| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Koran: a faithful apostle;' and, 'Exalt not yourselves above God; verily, I
come to you with obvious authority. And, verily, I seek refuge in my
Lord and your Lord, that ye stone me not. And if ye believe not in
me then let me alone!'
Then he called upon his Lord, 'Verily, these are a sinful people.'
So journey with my servants by night-verily, ye will be pursued. But
leave the sea in quiet-verily, they are a host to be drowned! How many
gardens and springs have they left, and corn lands and a noble
place, and comfort wherein they did enjoy themselves!
Thus-and we gave them for an inheritance to another people. And
the heaven wept not for them, nor the earth, nor were they respited.
The Koran |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Travels of Sir John Mandeville by Sir John Mandeville: and sent his brother Halaon with great multitude of folk for to win
the Holy Land and for to put it into Christian men's hands, and for
to destroy Mahomet's law, and for to take the Caliph of Bagdad that
was emperor and lord of all the Saracens. And when this caliph was
taken, men found him of so high worship, that in all the remnant of
the world, ne might a man find a more reverend man, ne higher in
worship. And then Halaon made him come before him, and said to
him, Why, quoth he, haddest thou not taken with thee more soldiers
and men enough, for a little quantity of treasure, for to defend
thee and thy country, that art so abundant of treasure and so high
in all worship? And the caliph answered him, For he well trowed
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg by Mark Twain: That same Saturday evening the postman had delivered a letter to
each of the other principal citizens--nineteen letters in all. No
two of the envelopes were alike, and no two of the superscriptions
were in the same hand, but the letters inside were just like each
other in every detail but one. They were exact copies of the letter
received by Richards--handwriting and all--and were all signed by
Stephenson, but in place of Richards's name each receiver's own name
appeared.
All night long eighteen principal citizens did what their caste-
brother Richards was doing at the same time--they put in their
energies trying to remember what notable service it was that they
The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg |
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 Les Miserables by Victor Hugo: that he was the same as alone in the world, and had no relatives.
"What is to become of you?" said Courfeyrac.
"I do not know in the least," replied Marius.
"What are you going to do?"
"I do not know."
"Have you any money?"
"Fifteen francs."
"Do you want me to lend you some?"
"Never."
"Have you clothes?"
"Here is what I have."
Les Miserables |
