| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Songs of Travel by Robert Louis Stevenson: What, what, was I to honour thee? A child;
A youth in ardour but a child in strength,
Who after virtue's golden chariot-wheels
Runs ever panting, nor attains the goal.
So thought I, and was sorrowful at heart.
Since then my steps have visited that flood
Along whose shore the numerous footfalls cease,
The voices and the tears of life expire.
Thither the prints go down, the hero's way
Trod large upon the sand, the trembling maid's:
Nimrod that wound his trumpet in the wood,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Grimm's Fairy Tales by Brothers Grimm: and the children, then the apprentices, girls and boys, and they all
ran up the street to look at the bird, and saw how splendid it was
with its red and green feathers, and its neck like burnished gold, and
eyes like two bright stars in its head.
'Bird,' said the shoemaker, 'sing me that song again.'
'Nay,' answered the bird, 'I do not sing twice for nothing; you must
give me something.'
'Wife,' said the man, 'go into the garret; on the upper shelf you will
see a pair of red shoes; bring them to me.' The wife went in and
fetched the shoes.
'There, bird,' said the shoemaker, 'now sing me that song again.'
Grimm's Fairy Tales |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Of The Nature of Things by Lucretius: With but light strain.
Now, by what modes this sleep
Pours through our members waters of repose
And frees the breast from cares of mind, I'll tell
In verses sweeter than they many are;
Even as the swan's slight note is better far
Than that dispersed clamour of the cranes
Among the southwind's aery clouds. Do thou
Give me sharp ears and a sagacious mind,-
That thou mayst not deny the things to be
Whereof I'm speaking, nor depart away
Of The Nature of Things |
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 Lysis by Plato: True.
But that would not make them at all the more white, notwithstanding the
presence of white in them--they would not be white any more than black?
No.
But when old age infuses whiteness into them, then they become assimilated,
and are white by the presence of white.
Certainly.
Now I want to know whether in all cases a substance is assimilated by the
presence of another substance; or must the presence be after a peculiar
sort?
The latter, he said.
Lysis |
