| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Euthydemus by Plato: argue that they have just enough of both, and so they keep out of the way
of all risks and conflicts and reap the fruits of their wisdom.
CRITO: What do you say of them, Socrates? There is certainly something
specious in that notion of theirs.
SOCRATES: Yes, Crito, there is more speciousness than truth; they cannot
be made to understand the nature of intermediates. For all persons or
things, which are intermediate between two other things, and participate in
both of them--if one of these two things is good and the other evil, are
better than the one and worse than the other; but if they are in a mean
between two good things which do not tend to the same end, they fall short
of either of their component elements in the attainment of their ends.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The King of the Golden River by John Ruskin: As he spoke the figure of the dwarf became indistinct. The
playing colors of his robe formed themselves into a prismatic mist
of dewy light; he stood for an instant veiled with them as with the
belt of a broad rainbow. The colors grew faint; the mist rose into
the air; the monarch had evaporated.
And Gluck climbed to the brink of the Golden River, and its
waves were as clear as crystal and as brilliant as the sun. And
when he cast the three drops of dew into the stream, there opened
where they fell a small, circular whirlpool, into which the waters
descended with a musical noise.
Gluck stood watching it for some time, very much disappointed,
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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 Flower Fables by Louisa May Alcott: One day he fell asleep, and when he woke the sun had set, and the dew
began to fall; the flower-cups were closed, and he had nowhere to go,
till a friendly little bee, belated by his heavy load of honey, bid
the weary Fairy come with him.
"Help me to bear my honey home, and you can stay with us tonight,"
he kindly said.
So Thistle gladly went with him, and soon they came to a pleasant
garden, where among the fairest flowers stood the hive, covered with
vines and overhung with blossoming trees. Glow-worms stood at the
door to light them home, and as they passed in, the Fairy thought how
charming it must be to dwell in such a lovely place. The floor of wax
Flower Fables |
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 Black Beauty by Anna Sewell: the crowds of horses, carts, and carriages that I had to make my way through
made me feel anxious and harassed; but I soon found that I could
perfectly trust my driver, and then I made myself easy and got used to it.
Jerry was as good a driver as I had ever known, and what was better,
he took as much thought for his horses as he did for himself.
He soon found out that I was willing to work and do my best,
and he never laid the whip on me unless it was gently drawing the end of it
over my back when I was to go on; but generally I knew this quite well
by the way in which he took up the reins, and I believe his whip
was more frequently stuck up by his side than in his hand.
In a short time I and my master understood each other as well
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