| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Alexandria and her Schools by Charles Kingsley: some most mysterious, but most real sense, the Father of men; he learns
to look up to that Father as his guide and friend.
Numenius, again, in the second century, was a man who had evidently
studied Philo. He perceived so deeply, I may say so exaggeratedly, the
analogy between the Jewish and the Platonic assertions of an Absolute
and Eternal Being, side by side with the assertion of a Divine Teacher
of man, that he is said to have uttered the startling saying: "What is
Plato but Moses talking Attic?" Doubtless Plato is not that: but the
expression is remarkable, as showing the tendency of the age. He too
looks up to God with prayers for the guidance of his reason. He too
enters into speculation concerning God in His absoluteness, and in His
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Odyssey by Homer: may sail the sea so as to reach my home.'
"'Stranger,' replied she, 'I will make it all quite clear to
you. There is an old immortal who lives under the sea
hereabouts and whose name is Proteus. He is an Egyptian, and
people say he is my father; he is Neptune's head man and knows
every inch of ground all over the bottom of the sea. If you can
snare him and hold him tight, he will tell you about your
voyage, what courses you are to take, and how you are to sail
the sea so as to reach your home. He will also tell you, if you
so will, all that has been going on at your house both good and
bad, while you have been away on your long and dangerous
The Odyssey |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne: of his vigil, all her sympathies towards him had been both
softened and invigorated. She now read his heart more
accurately. She doubted not that the continual presence of Roger
Chillingworth -- the secret poison of his malignity, infecting
all the air about him -- and his authorised interference, as a
physician, with the minister's physical and spiritual infirmities
-- that these bad opportunities had been turned to a cruel
purpose. By means of them, the sufferer's conscience had been
kept in an irritated state, the tendency of which was, not to
cure by wholesome pain, but to disorganize and corrupt his
spiritual being. Its result, on earth, could hardly fail to be
The Scarlet Letter |
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 Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie: Tommy nodded.
"Two months ago."
"Gratuity?" hinted Tuppence.
"Spent."
"Oh, Tommy!"
"No, old thing, not in riotous dissipation. No such luck! The
cost of living--ordinary plain, or garden living nowadays is, I
assure you, if you do not know----"
"My dear child," interrupted Tuppence, "there is nothing I do NOT
know about the cost of living. Here we are at Lyons', and we
will each of us pay for our own. That's it!" And Tuppence led
Secret Adversary |
