| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Footnote to History by Robert Louis Stevenson: Samoans; and yet I never met any one, white or native, who did not
respect his memory. All felt it was a gallant battle, and the man
a great fighter; and now when he is dead, and the war seems to have
gone against him, many can scarce remember, without a kind of
regret, how much devotion and audacity have been spent in vain.
His name still lives in the songs of Samoa. One, that I have
heard, tells of MISI UEBA and a biscuit-box - the suggesting
incident being long since forgotten. Another sings plaintively how
all things, land and food and property, pass progressively, as by a
law of nature, into the hands of MISI UEBA, and soon nothing will
be left for Samoans. This is an epitaph the man would have
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from King James Bible: JOH 20:13 And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith
unto them, Because they have taken away my LORD, and I know not where
they have laid him.
JOH 20:14 And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw
Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus.
JOH 20:15 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest
thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if
thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will
take him away.
JOH 20:16 Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith
unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.
King James Bible |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Cromwell by William Shakespeare: And though I grieve your fortune is so bad,
Yet that my hap's to help you make me glad.
And now, sir, will it please you walk with me?
FRISKIBALL.
Not yet I cannot, for the Lord Chancellor
Hath here commanded me to wait on him,
For what I know not: pray God tis for my good.
BANISTER.
never make doubt of that; I'll warrant you,
He is as kind a noble gentleman
As ever did possess the place he hath.
|
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 Madam How and Lady Why by Charles Kingsley: the Severn sea. And you may see, for here they are, corals from
St. Vincent's Rocks, cut and polished, showing too that they also,
like the Dudley limestone, are made up of corals and of coral-mud.
Now, whenever you see St. Vincent's Rocks, as I suspect you very
soon will, recollect where you are, and use your fancy, to paint
for yourself a picture as strange as it is true. Fancy that those
rocks are what they once were, a coral-reef close to the surface
of a shallow sea. Fancy that there is no gorge of the Avon, no
wide Severn sea--for those were eaten out by water ages and ages
afterwards. But picture to yourself the coral sea reaching away
to the north, to the foot of the Welsh mountains; and then fancy
|
