| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Myths and Myth-Makers by John Fiske: went to look at it, he found "the dam broken, and scarcely a
thimbleful of water in the mill-race, and the wheel rotten,
and the thatch of the house all gone, and the upper millstone
lying flat on the lower one, and a coat of dust and mould over
everything." So he made up his mind to borrow a horse and take
one more hunt to-morrow and then reform his habits.
As he was returning late in the evening from this farewell
hunt, passing through a lonely glen he came upon an old man
playing backgammon, betting on his left hand against his
right, and crying and cursing because the right WOULD win.
"Come and bet with me," said he to Sculloge. "Faith, I have
Myths and Myth-Makers |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Recruit by Honore de Balzac: with the pure and deep devotion of a mother, but with the coquetry of
a mistress, and the jealousy of a wife. She was miserable away from
him, uneasy at his absence, could never see him enough, and loved only
through him and for him. To make men understand the strength of this
feeling, it suffices to add that the son was not only the sole child
of Madame de Dey, but also her last relation, the only being in the
world to whom the fears and hopes and joys of her life could be
naturally attached.
The late Comte de Dey was the last surviving scion of his family, and
she herself was the sole heiress of her own. Human interests and
projects combined, therefore, with the noblest deeds of the soul to
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Concerning Christian Liberty by Martin Luther: justification, which he already had to the full, and which would
have been innate in us all.
So it is with the works of a believer. Being by his faith
replaced afresh in paradise and created anew, he does not need
works for his justification, but that he may not be idle, but may
exercise his own body and preserve it. His works are to be done
freely, with the sole object of pleasing God. Only we are not yet
fully created anew in perfect faith and love; these require to be
increased, not, however, through works, but through themselves.
A bishop, when he consecrates a church, confirms children, or
performs any other duty of his office, is not consecrated as
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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 A House of Pomegranates by Oscar Wilde: All rare and costly materials had certainly a great fascination for
him, and in his eagerness to procure them he had sent away many
merchants, some to traffic for amber with the rough fisher-folk of
the north seas, some to Egypt to look for that curious green
turquoise which is found only in the tombs of kings, and is said to
possess magical properties, some to Persia for silken carpets and
painted pottery, and others to India to buy gauze and stained
ivory, moonstones and bracelets of jade, sandal-wood and blue
enamel and shawls of fine wool.
But what had occupied him most was the robe he was to wear at his
coronation, the robe of tissued gold, and the ruby-studded crown,
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