| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Barlaam and Ioasaph by St. John of Damascus: of some artificer; and that which is wrought by handiwork hath
beginning and end. And the firmament is moved by law together
with its luminaries. The stars are borne from Sign to Sign, each
in his order and place: some rise, while others set: and they run
their journey according to fixed seasons, to fulfil summer and
winter, as it hath been ordained for them by God, nor do they
transgress their proper bounds, according to the inexorable law
of nature, in common with the heavenly firmament. Whence it is
evident that the heaven is not a god, but only a work of God.
"They again that think that the Earth is a goddess have gone
astray. We behold it dishonoured, mastered, defiled and rendered
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates by Howard Pyle: Then, turning to the sailing master, "Well, Brookes, you'll have
to do the best you can to get in over the shoals under half
sail."
"But, sir," said the master, "we'll be sure to run aground."
"Very well, sir," said the lieutenant, "you heard my orders. If
we run aground we run aground, and that's all there is of it."
"I sounded as far as maybe a little over a fathom," said the
mate, "but the villains would let me go no nearer. I think I was
in the channel, though. 'Tis more open inside, as I mind me of
it. There's a kind of a hole there, and if we get in over the
shoals just beyond where I was we'll be all right."
Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot: Where the dead men lost their bones.
'What is that noise?'
The wind under the door.
'What is that noise now? What is the wind doing?'
Nothing again nothing. 120
'Do
'You know nothing? Do you see nothing? Do you remember
'Nothing?'
I remember
Those are pearls that were his eyes.
'Are you alive, or not? Is there nothing in your head?'
The Waste Land |
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 Island Nights' Entertainments by Robert Louis Stevenson: this wife of mine, and so long as I keep her I cannot trade. Now,
what would any man do in my place, if he was a man?" I said. "The
first thing he would do is this, I guess." And I took and tore up
the certificate and bunged the pieces on the floor.
"AUE!" (2) cried Uma, and began to clap her hands; but I caught one
of them in mine.
"And the second thing that he would do," said I, "if he was what I
would call a man and you would call a man, Mr. Tarleton, is to
bring the girl right before you or any other missionary, and to up
and say: 'I was wrong married to this wife of mine, but I think a
heap of her, and now I want to be married to her right.' Fire
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