| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Phaedrus by Plato: gods are passing, every one doing his own work; he may follow who will and
can, for jealousy has no place in the celestial choir. But when they go to
banquet and festival, then they move up the steep to the top of the vault
of heaven. The chariots of the gods in even poise, obeying the rein, glide
rapidly; but the others labour, for the vicious steed goes heavily,
weighing down the charioteer to the earth when his steed has not been
thoroughly trained:--and this is the hour of agony and extremest conflict
for the soul. For the immortals, when they are at the end of their course,
go forth and stand upon the outside of heaven, and the revolution of the
spheres carries them round, and they behold the things beyond. But of the
heaven which is above the heavens, what earthly poet ever did or ever will
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Pagan and Christian Creeds by Edward Carpenter: then use the outer things or dismiss them at your pleasure.
There is nothing new of course in all this. It has been known
for ages; and is part of the ancient philosophy of the world.
In the Katha Upanishad you will find these words (Max
Muller's translation): "As rainwater that has fallen on a
mountain ridge runs down on all sides, thus does he who sees
a difference between qualities run after them on all sides."
This is the figure of the man who does NOT rest. And it is a
powerful likeness. The thunder shower descends on the mountain
top; torrents of water pour down the crags in every
direction. Imagine the state of mind of a man--however
Pagan and Christian Creeds |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Agesilaus by Xenophon: Megabates endeavoured so to salute Agesilaus, but the latter with much
show of battle, resisted--"No kiss might he accept."[3] I ask whether
such an incident does not reveal on the face of it the self-respect of
the man, and that of no vulgar order.[4] Megabates, who looked upon
himself as in some sense dishonoured, for the future endeavoured not
to offend in like sort again.[5] Whereupon Agesilaus appealed to one
who was his comrade to persuade Megabates again to honour him with his
regard; and the comrade, so appealed to, demanding, "If I persuade
him, will you bestow on him a kiss?" Agesilaus fell into a silence,
but presently exclaimed: "No, by the Twins, not if I might this very
instant become the swiftest-footed, strongest, and handsomest of
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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 The Jolly Corner by Henry James: once more a little by the chimney-piece on which his light had
rested. When he next moved, just hesitating where to turn, he
found himself considering a circumstance that, after his first and
comparatively vague apprehension of it, produced in him the start
that often attends some pang of recollection, the violent shock of
having ceased happily to forget. He had come into sight of the
door in which the brief chain of communication ended and which he
now surveyed from the nearer threshold, the one not directly facing
it. Placed at some distance to the left of this point, it would
have admitted him to the last room of the four, the room without
other approach or egress, had it not, to his intimate conviction,
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