| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Poems by T. S. Eliot: To be eaten, to be divided, to be drunk
Among whispers; by Mr. Silvero
With caressing hands, at Limoges
Who walked all night in the next room;
By Hakagawa, bowing among the Titians;
By Madame de Tornquist, in the dark room
Shifting the candles; Fraulein von Kulp
Who turned in the hall, one hand on the door. Vacant shuttles
Weave the wind. I have no ghosts,
An old man in a draughty house
Under a windy knob.
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling: stood up to Dick and me when we're in a hurry."
"Don't the knives hurt?" said the young mule.
"Well, I got one cut across the chest once, but that wasn't
Dick's fault--"
"A lot I should have cared whose fault it was, if it hurt!"
said the young mule.
"You must," said the troop horse. "If you don't trust your
man, you may as well run away at once. That's what some of our
horses do, and I don't blame them. As I was saying, it wasn't
Dick's fault. The man was lying on the ground, and I stretched
myself not to tread on him, and he slashed up at me. Next time I
The Jungle Book |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Tanach: Job 21: 9 Their houses are safe, without fear, neither is the rod of God upon them.
Job 21: 10 Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf.
Job 21: 11 They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance.
Job 21: 12 They sing to the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the pipe.
Job 21: 13 They spend their days in prosperity, and peacefully they go down to the grave.
Job 21: 14 Yet they said unto God: 'Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of Thy ways.
Job 21: 15 What is the Almighty, that we should serve Him? And what profit should we have, if we pray unto Him?'--
Job 21: 16 Lo, their prosperity is not in their hand; the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
Job 21: 17 How oft is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out? that their calamity cometh upon them? that He distributeth pains in His anger?
Job 21: 18 That they are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm stealeth away?
Job 21: 19 'God layeth up his iniquity for his children!' --let Him recompense it unto himself, that he may know it.
The Tanach |
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 Altar of the Dead by Henry James: personally there as if they had only been stricken dumb. When all
sense of them failed, all sound of them ceased, it was as if their
purgatory were really still on earth: they asked so little that
they got, poor things, even less, and died again, died every day,
of the hard usage of life. They had no organised service, no
reserved place, no honour, no shelter, no safety. Even ungenerous
people provided for the living, but even those who were called most
generous did nothing for the others. So on George Stransom's part
had grown up with the years a resolve that he at least would do
something, do it, that is, for his own - would perform the great
charity without reproach. Every man HAD his own, and every man
|
