| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Essays of Travel by Robert Louis Stevenson: And then the train came and carried me back to London.
CHAPTER IV - A WINTER'S WALK IN CARRICK AND GALLOWAY - A FRAGMENT -
1876
AT the famous bridge of Doon, Kyle, the central district of the shire
of Ayr, marches with Carrick, the most southerly. On the Carrick
side of the river rises a hill of somewhat gentle conformation, cleft
with shallow dells, and sown here and there with farms and tufts of
wood. Inland, it loses itself, joining, I suppose, the great herd of
similar hills that occupies the centre of the Lowlands. Towards the
sea it swells out the coast-line into a protuberance, like a bay-
window in a plan, and is fortified against the surf behind bold
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Disputation of the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences by Dr. Martin Luther: populo.
15. [40] Contritionis veritas penas querit et amat, Veniarum autem
largitas relaxat et odisse facit, saltem occasione.
16. [41] Caute sunt venie apostolice predicande, ne populus false
intelligat eas preferri ceteris bonis operibus charitatis.
17. [42] Docendi sunt christiani, quod Pape mens non est,
redemptionem veniarum ulla ex parte comparandam esse operibus
misericordie.
18. [43] Docendi sunt christiani, quod dans pauperi aut mutuans
egenti melius facit quam si venias redimereet.
19. [44] Quia per opus charitatis crescit charitas et fit homo
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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 Memorabilia by Xenophon: battle energetically, and what is equally important, until the hour of
final preparation has arrived,[10] he will be cautious to deliver
battle. Do not despise men of economic genius, Nicomachides; the
difference between the devotion requisite to private affairs and to
affairs of state is merely one of quantity. For the rest the parallel
holds strictly, and in this respect pre-eminently, that both are
concerned with human instruments: which human beings, moreover, are of
one type and temperament, whether we speak of devotion to public
affairs or of the administration of private property. To fare well in
either case is given to those who know the secret of dealing with
humanity, whereas the absence of that knowledge will as certainly
The Memorabilia |
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 Don Quixote by Miquel de Cervantes: looked upon all the rest as accomplished. But though to me and my
comrades it had seemed a better plan to send to Majorca for the
vessel, as the Moorish lady suggested, we did not dare to oppose
him, fearing that if we did not do as he said he would denounce us,
and place us in danger of losing all our lives if he were to
disclose our dealings with Zoraida, for whose life we would have all
given our own. We therefore resolved to put ourselves in the hands
of God and in the renegade's; and at the same time an answer was given
to Zoraida, telling her that we would do all she recommended, for
she had given as good advice as if Lela Marien had delivered it, and
that it depended on her alone whether we were to defer the business or
Don Quixote |
