| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Reign of King Edward the Third by William Shakespeare: Endured the penalty of sharp revenge.
KING EDWARD.
Ah, France, why shouldest thou be thus obstinate
Against the kind embracement of thy friends?
How gently had we thought to touch thy breast
And set our foot upon thy tender mould,
But that, in froward and disdainful pride,
Thou, like a skittish and untamed colt,
Dost start aside and strike us with thy heels!
But tell me, Ned, in all thy warlike course,
Hast thou not seen the usurping King of France?
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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 Large Catechism by Dr. Martin Luther: forgive. He has promised that we shall be sure that everything is
forgiven and pardoned, yet in the manner that we also forgive our
neighbor. For just as we daily sin much against God and yet He forgives
everything through grace, so we, too, must ever forgive our neighbor
who does us injury, violence, and wrong, shows malice toward us, etc.
If, therefore you do not forgive, then do not think that God forgives
you; but if you forgive, you have this consolation and assurance, that
you are forgiven in heaven, not on account of your forgiving, -- for
God forgives freely and without condition, out of pure grace, because
He has so promised, as the Gospel teaches, -- but in order that He may
set this up for our confirmation and assurance for a sign alongside of
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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 Dawn O'Hara, The Girl Who Laughed by Edna Ferber: Post. He took an impish delight in my struggles with
my hero and heroine, and his inquiries after the health
of both were of such a nature as to make any earnest
writer person rise in wrath and slay him. I had seen
little of Blackie of late. My spare hours had been
devoted to the work in hand. On the day after the book
was sent away I was conscious of a little shock as I
strolled into Blackie's sanctum and took my accustomed
seat beside his big desk. There was an oddly pinched
look about Blackie's nostrils and lips, I thought. And
the deep-set black eyes appeared deeper and blacker than
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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 Poems of William Blake by William Blake: And why it scatters its bright beauty thro the humid air.
Descend O little cloud & hover before the eyes of Thel.
The Cloud descended and the Lily bowd her modest head:
And went to mind her numerous charge among the verdant grass.
II.
O little Cloud the virgin said, I charge thee to tell me
Why thou complainest now when in one hour thou fade away:
Then we shall seek thee but not find: ah Thel is like to thee.
I pass away, yet I complain, and no one hears my voice.
The Cloud then shewd his golden head & his bright form emerg'd.
Hovering and glittering on the air before the face of Thel.
Poems of William Blake |
