| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Historical Lecturers and Essays by Charles Kingsley: people of Europe, and--as was most natural then--the most faithful
allies and servants of the Pope of Rome. So greatly had they
changed, and so fast, that William Duke of Normandy, the great-
great-grandson of Rolf the wild Viking, was perhaps the finest
gentleman, as well as the most cultivated sovereign, and the
greatest statesman and warrior in all Europe.
So Harold of Norway came with all his Vikings to Stamford Bridge by
York; and took, by coming, only that which Harold of England
promised him, namely, "forasmuch as he was taller than any other
man, seven feet of English ground."
The story of that great battle, told with a few inaccuracies, but
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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: god. . . . Festivals of this kind in celebration of the
extinction and resurrection of the deity were held (by
women and girls only) amid the mountains at night,
every third year, about the time of the shortest day. The
rites, intended to express the excess of grief and joy at the
death and reappearance of the god, were wild even
to savagery, and the women who performed them were
hence known by the expressive names of Bacchae, Maenads,
and Thyiades. They wandered through woods and mountains,
their flying locks crowned with ivy or snakes, brandishing
wands and torches, to the hollow sounds of the drum,
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 Camille by Alexandre Dumas: "Did she give you the papers that Marguerite had left for you?"
Armand drew a roll of papers from under his pillow, and
immediately put them back.
"I know all that is in these papers by heart," he said. "For
three weeks I have read them ten times over every day. You shall
read them, too, but later on, when I am calmer, and can make you
understand all the love and tenderness hidden away in this
confession. For the moment I want you to do me a service."
"What is it?"
"Your cab is below?"
"Yes.
Camille |
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 Early Short Fiction of Edith Wharton by Edith Wharton: fine tragedy; but though these pieces had given him a notion that
the social usages of Venice differed from those at home, he was
unprepared for the surprising appearance and manners of the great
people his friend named to him. The gravest Senators of the
Republic went in prodigious striped trousers, short cloaks and
feathered hats. One nobleman wore a ruff and doctor's gown,
another a black velvet tunic slashed with rose-colour; while the
President of the dreaded Council of Ten was a terrible strutting
fellow with a rapier-like nose, a buff leather jerkin and a
trailing scarlet cloak that the crowd was careful not to step on.
It was all vastly diverting, and Tony would gladly have gone on
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