| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Baby Mine by Margaret Mayo: one son on each knee.
CHAPTER XXII
When Jimmy gained courage to turn his eyes in the direction of
the family group he had helped to assemble, he was not reassured
by the reproachful glances that he met from Aggie and Zoie. It
was apparent that in their minds, he was again to blame for
something. Realising that they dared not openly reproach him
before Alfred, he decided to make his escape while his friend was
still in the room. He reached for his hat and tiptoed gingerly
toward the door, but just as he was congratulating himself upon
his decision, Alfred called to him with a mysterious air.
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Poems of William Blake by William Blake: The weak worm from its lowly bed, and thou shalt hear its voice.
Come forth worm and the silent valley, to thy pensive queen.
The helpless worm arose and sat upon the Lillys leaf,
And the bright Cloud saild on, to find his partner in the vale.
III.
Then Thel astonish'd view'd the Worm upon its dewy bed.
Art thou a Worm? image of weakness. art thou but a Worm?
I see thee like an infant wrapped in the Lillys leaf;
Ah weep not little voice, thou can'st not speak, but thou can'st weep:
Is this a Worm? I see they lay helpless & naked: weeping
And none to answer, none to cherish thee with mothers smiles.
Poems of William Blake |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Sylvie and Bruno by Lewis Carroll: tune, he seated himself on the dead mouse (he never seemed really
comfortable anywhere else), and, looking up at me with a merry twinkle
in his eyes, he began. By the way, the tune was rather a curious one,
and you might like to try it for yourself, so here are the notes.
[Image...Music for hare-bells]
"Rise, oh, rise! The daylight dies:
The owls are hooting, ting, ting, ting!
Wake, oh, wake! Beside the lake
The elves are fluting, ting, ting, ting!
Welcoming our Fairy King,
We sing, sing, sing."
Sylvie and Bruno |
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 Mirror of the Sea by Joseph Conrad: to the mark. In her handling a ship will not put up with a mere
pretender, as, for instance, the public will do with Mr. X, the
popular statesman, Mr. Y, the popular scientist, or Mr. Z, the
popular - what shall we say? - anything from a teacher of high
morality to a bagman - who have won their little race. But I would
like (though not accustomed to betting) to wager a large sum that
not one of the few first-rate skippers of racing yachts has ever
been a humbug. It would have been too difficult. The difficulty
arises from the fact that one does not deal with ships in a mob,
but with a ship as an individual. So we may have to do with men.
But in each of us there lurks some particle of the mob spirit, of
The Mirror of the Sea |
