| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Iliad by Homer: soldier among them, Patroclus struck panic into them all. He thus
drove them from the ship and quenched the fire that was then
blazing--leaving the half-burnt ship to lie where it was. The
Trojans were now driven back with a shout that rent the skies,
while the Danaans poured after them from their ships, shouting
also without ceasing. As when Jove, gatherer of the
thunder-cloud, spreads a dense canopy on the top of some lofty
mountain, and all the peaks, the jutting headlands, and forest
glades show out in the great light that flashes from the bursting
heavens, even so when the Danaans had now driven back the fire
from their ships, they took breath for a little while; but the
The Iliad |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from On Horsemanship by Xenophon: likely to slip from under; and so to pitch his rider off. So again in
pulling him up short[8] the rider should lean back; and thus escape a
shock. In leaping a ditch or tearing up a steep incline, it is no bad
plan to let go the reins and take hold of the mane, so that the animal
may not feel the burthen of the bit in addition to that of the ground.
In going down a steep incline the rider must throw himself right back
and hold in the horse with the bit, to prevent himself being hurled
headforemost down the slope himself if not his horse.
[7] Or, "to each set of occurrences."
[8] Al. "when the horse is being brought to a poise" (Morgan); and see
Hermann ap. Schneid., {analambanein} = retinere equum, anhalten,
On Horsemanship |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Belts of wampum, pipes and weapons.
"Carry them," said Pau-Puk-Keewis,
Pointing with his fan of feathers,
"To my wigwam far to eastward,
On the dunes of Nagow Wudjoo!"
Hot and red with smoke and gambling
Were the eyes of Pau-Puk-Keewis
As he came forth to the freshness
Of the pleasant Summer morning.
All the birds were singing gayly,
All the streamlets flowing swiftly,
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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 Man against the Sky by Edwin Arlington Robinson: And what the world had left of him
Was partly an unholy guile.
"That I have paid for being calm
Is what you see, if you have eyes;
For let a man be calm too long,
He pays for much before he dies.
"Be calm when you are growing old
And you have nothing else to do;
Pour not the wine of life too thin
If water means the death of you.
"You say I might have learned at home
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