| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Theaetetus by Plato: a long interval the thing which we have seen once is seen again by us, but
with a different feeling, and comes back to us, not as new knowledge, but
as a thing to which we ourselves impart a notion already present to us; in
Plato's words, we set the stamp upon the wax. Every one is aware of the
difference between the first and second sight of a place, between a scene
clothed with associations or bare and divested of them. We say to
ourselves on revisiting a spot after a long interval: How many things have
happened since I last saw this! There is probably no impression ever
received by us of which we can venture to say that the vestiges are
altogether lost, or that we might not, under some circumstances, recover
it. A long-forgotten knowledge may be easily renewed and therefore is very
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain: did not know any particular reason for this state of
things; had had some little curiosity, but it was rather
feeble; had made the most of the mystery by enter-
taining himself with the idea that that room was
"ha'nted"; had noticed that there was a light in there
the night before.
"That's what I've found out, Huck. I reckon
that's the very No. 2 we're after."
"I reckon it is, Tom. Now what you going to do?"
"Lemme think."
Tom thought a long time. Then he said:
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Pagan and Christian Creeds by Edward Carpenter: so on. The instances are endless. "I am the oblation,"
says the Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita,[1] "I am the
sacrifice, I the ancestral offering." "In the truly orthodox
conception of sacrifice," says Elie Reclus,[2] "the consecrated
offering, be it man, woman or virgin, lamb or
heifer, cock or dove, represents tHE DEITY HIMSELF. . . .
Brahma is the 'imperishable sacrifice'; Indra, Soma, Hari and
the other gods, became incarnate in animals to the
sole end that they might be immolated. Perusha, the
Universal Being, caused himself to be slain by the Immortals,
and from his substance were born the birds of the
Pagan and Christian Creeds |
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 Prince of Bohemia by Honore de Balzac: conversation to the subject of the functions of his visitor, whom he
has since called 'the unmitigated misery man,' and learned the nature
of his duties and his stipend.
" 'Do they allow you a carriage to go about the town in this way?'
" 'Oh! no.'
"At that La Palferine and a friend who happened to be with him went
downstairs with the poor soul, and insisted on putting him into the
carriage. It was raining in torrents. La Palferine had thought of
everything. He offered to drive the official to the next house on his
list; and when the almoner came down again, he found the carriage
waiting for him at the door. The man in livery handed him a note
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