| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Koran: whom He will; for God is Lord of mighty grace!
THE CHAPTER OF THE WRANGLER
(LVIII. Medinah.)
GOD has heard the speech of her who wrangled with you about her
husband, and complained to God; and God hears your gossip; verily, God
both hears and sees.
Those among you who back out of their wives they are not their
mothers their mothers are only those who gave them birth and,
verily, they speak a wrong speech and a false.
Verily, God both pardons and forgives. But those who back out of
their wives and then would recall their speech,- then the
The Koran |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Protagoras by Plato: politics, and that you promise to make men good citizens?
That, Socrates, is exactly the profession which I make.
Then, I said, you do indeed possess a noble art, if there is no mistake
about this; for I will freely confess to you, Protagoras, that I have a
doubt whether this art is capable of being taught, and yet I know not how
to disbelieve your assertion. And I ought to tell you why I am of opinion
that this art cannot be taught or communicated by man to man. I say that
the Athenians are an understanding people, and indeed they are esteemed to
be such by the other Hellenes. Now I observe that when we are met together
in the assembly, and the matter in hand relates to building, the builders
are summoned as advisers; when the question is one of ship-building, then
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Perfect Wagnerite: A Commentary on the Niblung's Ring by George Bernard Shaw: the whole tragedy of human history and the whole horror of the
dilemmas from which the world is shrinking today. At Bayreuth I
have seen a party of English tourists, after enduring agonies of
boredom from Alberic, rise in the middle of the third scene, and
almost force their way out of the dark theatre into the sunlit
pine-wood without. And I have seen people who were deeply
affected by the scene driven almost beside themselves by this
disturbance. But it was a very natural thing for the unfortunate
tourists to do, since in this Rhine Gold prologue there is no
interval between the acts for escape. Roughly speaking, people
who have no general ideas, no touch of the concern of the
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The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from Chita: A Memory of Last Island by Lafcadio Hearn: adopted mother's arms, she sobbed with fright. To the vivid
fancy of the child there seemed to be some hideous relation
between the staring reptile and the brown death's-head, with its
empty eyes, and its nightmare-smile.
The shock brought on a fever,--a fever that lasted several days,
and left her very weak. But the experience taught her to obey,
taught her that Carmen knew best what was for her good. It also
caused her to think a great deal. Carmen had told her that the
dead people never frightened good little girls who stayed at
home.
--"Madrecita Carmen," she asked, "is my mamma dead?"
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