| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from From London to Land's End by Daniel Defoe: by the other which is there already.
How the Dukes of Somerset came to quit this church for their
burying-place, and be laid in Westminster Abbey, that I know not;
but it is certain that the present Duke has chosen to have his
family laid here with their ancestors, and to that end has caused
the corpse of his son, the Lord Percy, as above, and one of his
daughters, who had been buried in the Abbey, to be removed and
brought down to this vault, which lies in that they call the Virgin
Mary's Chapel, behind the altar. There is, as above, a noble
monument for a late Duke and Duchess of Somerset in the place
already, with their portraits at full-length, their heads lying
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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 Perfect Wagnerite: A Commentary on the Niblung's Ring by George Bernard Shaw: dividend, and plenty of clergymen shareholders. Or it might be a
whitelead factory, or a chemical works, or a pottery, or a
railway shunting yard, or a tailoring shop, or a little
gin-sodden laundry, or a bakehouse, or a big shop, or any other
of the places where human life and welfare are daily sacrificed
in order that some greedy foolish creature may be able to hymn
exultantly to his Platonic idol:
Thou mak'st me eat whilst others starve,
And sing while others do lament:
Such untome Thy blessings are,
As if I were Thine only care.
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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 Koran: with good things;- is it in vanity that they believe, while for
God's favour they are ungrateful?
And they serve beside God what cannot control for them any provision
from the heavens or the earth, and have no power at all.
Do not then strike out parables for God! Verily, God knows, but ye
do not know.
God has struck out a parable; an owned slave, able to do nothing;
and one whom we have provided with a good provision, and who expends
therefrom in alms secretly and openly:- shall they be held equal?-
Praise be to God, most of them do not know!
And God has struck out a parable: two men, one of them dumb, able to
The Koran |
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 Prince Otto by Robert Louis Stevenson: 'It was to no ill end. It was to buy a farm,' quoth Otto sulkily.
'To buy a farm!' cried Gotthold. 'Buy a farm!'
'Well, what then?' returned Otto. 'I have bought it, if you come to
that.'
Gotthold fairly bounded on his seat. 'And how that?' he cried.
'How?' repeated Otto, startled.
'Ay, verily, how!' returned the Doctor. 'How came you by the
money?'
The Prince's countenance darkened. 'That is my affair,' said he.
'You see you are ashamed,' retorted Gotthold. 'And so you bought a
farm in the hour of our country's need - doubtless to be ready for
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