| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Nada the Lily by H. Rider Haggard: the way and I following after him. Now I saw that his feet led him
towards the U'Donga-lu-ka-Tatiyana, that place where all my people lay
dead, and with them Baleka, my sister. We climbed the slope of the
hill slowly, and came to the mouth of the cleft, to that same spot
where Chaka had stood when the people fell over the lips of the rock
like water. Then there had been noise and crying, now there was
silence, for the night was very still. The moon was full also, and
lighted up the dead who lay near to us, so that I could see them all;
yes, I could see even the face of Baleka, my sister--they had thrown
her into the midst of the dead. Never had it looked so beautiful as in
this hour, and yet as I gazed I grew afraid. Only the far end of the
Nada the Lily |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Unseen World and Other Essays by John Fiske: gales of the German Ocean, than he sent orders to Farnese to
invade England at once with the land force under his command! He
thought to obtain Scotland, when, after the death of Mary, it had
passed under the undisputed control of the Protestant noblemen.
He dreamed of securing for his family the crown of France, even
after Henry, with free consent of the Pope, had made his
triumphal entry into Paris. He asserted complete and entire
sovereignty over the Netherlands, even after Prince Maurice had
won back from him the last square foot of Dutch territory. Such
obstinacy as this can only be called fatuity. If Philip had lived
in Pagan times, he would doubtless, like Caligula, have demanded
The Unseen World and Other Essays |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Historical Lecturers and Essays by Charles Kingsley: nearer home as no other people--unless, perhaps, the old Ionian
Greeks--conquered and settled.
Greenland, we have seen, they held--the western side at least--and
held it long and well enough to afford, it is said, 2,600 pounds of
walrus' teeth as yearly tithe to the Pope, besides Peter's pence,
and to build many a convent, and church, and cathedral, with farms
and homesteads round; for one saga speaks of Greenland as producing
wheat of the finest quality. All is ruined now, perhaps by gradual
change of climate.
But they had richer fields of enterprise than Greenland, Iceland,
and the Faroes. Their boldest outlaws at that very time--whether
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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 The Augsburg Confession by Philip Melanchthon: God, because traditions were placed far above the commandments
of God. Christianity was thought to consist wholly in the
observance of certain holy-days, rites, fasts, and vestures.
These observances had won for themselves the exalted title of
being the spiritual life and the perfect life. Meanwhile the
commandments of God, according to each one's calling, were
without honor namely, that the father brought up his
offspring, that the mother bore children, that the prince
governed the commonwealth, -- these were accounted works that
were worldly and imperfect, and far below those glittering
observances. And this error greatly tormented devout
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