| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Smalcald Articles by Dr. Martin Luther: worship of the saints will soon vanish], neither in their
graves nor in heaven. For without a reward or out of pure love
no one will much remember, or esteem, or honor them [bestow on
them divine honor].
In short, the Mass itself and anything that proceeds from it,
and anything that is attached to it, we cannot tolerate, but
must condemn, in order that we may retain the holy Sacrament
pure and certain, according to the institution of Christ,
employed and received through faith.
Article III: Of Chapters and Cloisters.
That chapters and cloisters [colleges of canons and
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Almayer's Folly by Joseph Conrad: as "the Rajah-Laut"--the King of the Sea.
Almayer had heard of him before he had been three days in
Macassar, had heard the stories of his smart business
transactions, his loves, and also of his desperate fights with
the Sulu pirates, together with the romantic tale of some child--
a girl--found in a piratical prau by the victorious Lingard,
when, after a long contest, he boarded the craft, driving the
crew overboard. This girl, it was generally known, Lingard had
adopted, was having her educated in some convent in Java, and
spoke of her as "my daughter." He had sworn a mighty oath to
marry her to a white man before he went home and to leave her all
Almayer's Folly |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Large Catechism by Dr. Martin Luther: in short, wherever there is trading or taking and giving of money for
merchandise or labor.
As, for instance, to explain this somewhat grossly for the common
people, that it may be seen how godly we are: When a manservant or
maid-servant does not serve faithfully in the house, and does damage,
or allows it to be done when it could be prevented, or otherwise ruins
and neglects the goods entrusted to him, from indolence idleness, or
malice, to the spite and vexation of master and mistress, and in
whatever way this can be done purposely (for I do not speak of what
happens from oversight and against one's will), you can in a year
abscond thirty, forty florins, which if another had taken secretly or
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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 Reef by Edith Wharton: it. You say you'll never understand: but why shouldn't you?
Is it anything to be proud of, to know so little of the
strings that pull us? If you knew a little more, I could
tell you how such things happen without offending you; and
perhaps you'd listen without condemning me."
"I don't condemn you." She was dizzy with struggling
impulses. She longed to cry out: "I DO understand! I've
understood ever since you've been here!" For she was aware,
in her own bosom, of sensations so separate from her
romantic thoughts of him that she saw her body and soul
divided against themselves. She recalled having read
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