| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Pagan and Christian Creeds by Edward Carpenter: these creatures are but likenesses of himself, intimately
and deeply-related to him in their love and hunger
longing, and, like himself too, unfathomed and unfathomable.
It would be absurd to credit early man with conscious
speculations like these, belonging more properly to the
twentieth century; yet it is incontrovertible, I think, that
in SOME ways the primitive peoples, with their swift
subconscious intuitions and their minds unclouded by mere
book knowledge, perceived truths to which we moderns
are blind. Like the animals they arrived at their perceptions
without (individual) brain effort; they knew things
Pagan and Christian Creeds |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Study of a Woman by Honore de Balzac: soul is then divined behind that rather indefinite form. If she takes
an interest in the conversation she displays a grace which is
otherwise buried beneath the precautions of cold demeanor, and then
she is charming. She does not seek success, but she obtains it. We
find that for which we do not seek: that saying is so often true that
some day it will be turned into a proverb. It is, in fact, the moral
of this adventure, which I should not allow myself to tell if it were
not echoing at the present moment through all the salons of Paris.
The Marquise de Listomere danced, about a month ago, with a young man
as modest as he is lively, full of good qualities, but exhibiting,
chiefly, his defects. He is ardent, but he laughs at ardor; he has
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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 Common Sense by Thomas Paine: of the ELECTORS in a few months, their fidelity to the public
will be secured by the prudent reflection of not making a rod
for themselves. And as this frequent interchange will establish
a common interest with every part of the community, they will
mutually and naturally support each other, and on this (not on
the unmeaning name of king) depends the STRENGTH OF GOVERNMENT,
AND THE HAPPINESS OF THE GOVERNED.
Here then is the origin and rise of government; namely, a mode rendered
necessary by the inability of moral virtue to govern the world;
here too is the design and end of government, viz. freedom and security.
And however our eyes may be dazzled with show, or our ears deceived by sound;
Common Sense |
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 Letters from England by Elizabeth Davis Bancroft: herself with BEAUX and BELLES ESPRITS, and as her son and daughter
reside with her, this is still easy . . . The old lady talks French
as fast as possible, and troubles me somewhat by talking it to me,
forgetting that a foreign minister's wife can talk English . . .
Your father likes to be here. He has copying going on in the State
Paper Office and British Museum, and his heart is full of
manuscripts. It is the first thought, I believe, whoever he sees,
what papers are in their family. He makes great interest with even
the ladies sometimes for this purpose. Upon the whole, I love my
own country better than ever, but whether I shall not miss, upon my
return, some things to which I am gradually getting accustomed, I
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