| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Dreams & Dust by Don Marquis: My heart hath known, and thrilled to know,
This unnamed presence that it sought;
And when my heart hath found it so,
"Love is the name," I thought.
Sometimes when sudden afterglows
In futile glory storm the skies
Within their transient gold and rose
The secret stirs and dies;
Or when the trampling morn walks o'er
The troubled seas, with feet of flame,
My awed heart whispers, "Ask no more,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A treatise on Good Works by Dr. Martin Luther: not destroy it; but I found none. Therefore have I poured out
Mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire
of My wrath." With these words God indicates how He wants us to
withstand Him and turn away His anger from one another, as it is
frequently written of the Prophet Moses, that he restrained God,
lest His anger should overwhelm the people of Israel.
XV. But what will they do, who not only do not regard such
misfortune of Christendom, and do not pray against it, but laugh
at it, take pleasure in it, condemn, malign, sing and talk of
their neighbor's sins, and yet dare, unafraid and unashamed, go
to church, hear mass, say prayers, and regard themselves and are
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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 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne: As I passed these curious animals I could examine them leisurely,
for they did not move. Their skins were thick and rugged,
of a yellowish tint, approaching to red; their hair was short
and scant. Some of them were four yards and a quarter long.
Quieter and less timid than their cousins of the north, they did not,
like them, place sentinels round the outskirts of their encampment.
After examining this city of morses, I began to think of returning.
It was eleven o'clock, and, if Captain Nemo found the conditions
favourable for observations, I wished to be present at the operation.
We followed a narrow pathway running along the summit of the steep shore.
At half-past eleven we had reached the place where we landed.
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea |
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 Within the Tides by Joseph Conrad: the prowling footsteps of the murderer without hands. But he never
faltered in his purpose. He got away with the boy safely after
all. The house he found empty. A profound silence encompassed him
all the time, except once, just as he got down the ladder with Tony
in his arms, when a faint groan reached his ears. It seemed to
come from the pitch-black space between the posts on which the
house was built, but he did not stop to investigate.
"It's no use telling you in detail how Davidson got on board with
the burden Anne's miserably cruel fate had thrust into his arms;
how next morning his scared crew, after observing from a distance
the state of affairs on board, rejoined with alacrity; how Davidson
Within the Tides |
