| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Iliad by Homer: at peace and abide by our oaths."
Great Hector now turned his head aside while he shook the helmet,
and the lot of Paris flew out first. The others took their
several stations, each by his horses and the place where his arms
were lying, while Alexandrus, husband of lovely Helen, put on his
goodly armour. First he greaved his legs with greaves of good
make and fitted with ancle-clasps of silver; after this he donned
the cuirass of his brother Lycaon, and fitted it to his own body;
he hung his silver-studded sword of bronze about his shoulders,
and then his mighty shield. On his comely head he set his helmet,
well-wrought, with a crest of horse-hair that nodded menacingly
The Iliad |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from 1492 by Mary Johntson: whence else could it come? If it tied Martin Pinzon to
the Admiral, seeing that only through success could those
monies be repaid, it likewise made him feel that he, too, had
authority, was at liberty to advise, and at need to become
critical.
But the Admiral had the great man's mark. He could acknowledge
service and be quite simply and deeply grateful
for it. He was grateful to Martin Pinzon who had aided him
from his first coming to Palos, and also I think he loved
the younger man's great blond strength and beauty. He
had all of Italy's quickness to beauty, be it of land or sea,
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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 Tanglewood Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne: cold, snowy torrent from the steep side of Olympus, raging and
thundering as if it had a real spite against Jason, or, at all
events, were determined to snatch off his living burden from
his shoulders. When he was half way across, the uprooted tree
(which I have already told you about) broke loose from among
the rocks, and bore down upon him, with all its splintered
branches sticking out like the hundred arms of the giant
Briareus. It rushed past, however, without touching him. But
the next moment his foot was caught in a crevice between two
rocks, and stuck there so fast, that, in the effort to get
free, he lost one of his golden-stringed sandals.
Tanglewood Tales |
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 Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens: on such occasions, propounded all manner of leading questions
calculated to surround the story with new horrors and surprises.
But Solomon Daisy, notwithstanding these temptations, adhered so
steadily to his original account, and repeated it so often, with
such slight variations, and with such solemn asseverations of its
truth and reality, that his hearers were (with good reason) more
astonished than at first. As he took John Willet's view of the
matter in regard to the propriety of not bruiting the tale abroad,
unless the spirit should appear to him again, in which case it
would be necessary to take immediate counsel with the clergyman, it
was solemnly resolved that it should be hushed up and kept quiet.
Barnaby Rudge |
