| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf: From John Peel she passed to Bach, who was at this time the subject
of her intense enthusiasm, and one by one some of the younger dancers
came in from the garden and sat upon the deserted gilt chairs round
the piano, the room being now so clear that they turned out the lights.
As they sat and listened, their nerves were quieted; the heat and
soreness of their lips, the result of incessant talking and laughing,
was smoothed away. They sat very still as if they saw a building with
spaces and columns succeeding each other rising in the empty space.
Then they began to see themselves and their lives, and the whole
of human life advancing very nobly under the direction of the music.
They felt themselves ennobled, and when Rachel stopped playing they
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Alexander's Bridge by Willa Cather: the end. His harshest critics did not doubt that,
had he lived, he would have retrieved himself.
Even Lucius Wilson did not see in this accident
the disaster he had once foretold.
When a great man dies in his prime there
is no surgeon who can say whether he did well;
whether or not the future was his, as it
seemed to be. The mind that society had
come to regard as a powerful and reliable
machine, dedicated to its service, may for a
long time have been sick within itself and
Alexander's Bridge |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Garden Party by Katherine Mansfield: Meadows, will always keep, you know."
On the wings of hope, of love, of joy, Miss Meadows sped back to the music
hall, up the aisle, up the steps, over to the piano.
"Page thirty-two, Mary," she said, "page thirty-two," and, picking up the
yellow chrysanthemum, she held it to her lips to hide her smile. Then she
turned to the girls, rapped with her baton: "Page thirty-two, girls. Page
thirty-two."
"We come here To-day with Flowers o'erladen,
With Baskets of Fruit and Ribbons to boot,
To-oo Congratulate...
"Stop! Stop!" cried Miss Meadows. "This is awful. This is dreadful."
|
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 Koran: Thus have we sent it down, an Arabic judgment, but hadst thou
followed their lusts, after the knowledge that has come to thee,
thou hadst not had against God a patron or a keeper.
And we sent apostles before thee, and we made for them wives and
seed; and no apostle could bring a sign save by God's permission;- for
every period there is a book.
God blots out what He will, or He confirms; and with Him is the
Mother of the Book.
Either we will let thee see a part of what we threaten them with, or
we will take thee to Ourself; but thy duty is only to deliver thy
message, and ours to reckon up.
The Koran |
