| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Charmides and Other Poems by Oscar Wilde: Or from the Lesbian waters plucked drowned Sappho's golden quid!
Enough, enough that he whose life had been
A fiery pulse of sin, a splendid shame,
Could in the loveless land of Hades glean
One scorching harvest from those fields of flame
Where passion walks with naked unshod feet
And is not wounded, - ah! enough that once their lips could meet
In that wild throb when all existences
Seemed narrowed to one single ecstasy
Which dies through its own sweetness and the stress
Of too much pleasure, ere Persephone
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians by Martin Luther: the Book of Acts. "Arise," said Christ to Paul, "and go into the city, and it
shall be told thee what thou must do." Christ did not send Paul into the
city to learn the Gospel from Ananias. Ananias was only to baptize Paul, to
lay his hands on Paul, to commit the ministry of the Word unto Paul, and to
recommend him to the Church. Ananias recognized his limited assignment
when he said to Paul: "Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared
unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest
receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost." Paul did not receive
instruction from Ananias. Paul had already been called, enlightened, and
taught by Christ in the road. His contact with Ananias was merely a
testimonal to the fact that Paul had been called by Christ to preach the
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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 The Village Rector by Honore de Balzac: "To each its destiny. How many inequalities in that mass of trees!
Those placed the highest lack earth and moisture; they die first."
"Some there are whom the shears of the woman gathering fagots cut
short in their prime," she said bitterly.
"Do not fall back into those thoughts," said the rector sternly,
though with indulgence still. "The misfortune of this forest is that
it has never been cut. Do you see the phenomenon these masses
present?"
Veronique, to whose mind the singularities of the forest nature
suggested little, looked obediently at the forest and then let her
eyes drop gently back upon the rector.
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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 Rivers to the Sea by Sara Teasdale: Call to me always, "Rest, rest"?
I throw my mantle over the moon
And I blind the sun on his throne at noon,
Nothing can tame me, nothing can bind,
I am a child of the heartless wind--
But oh the pines on the mountain's crest
Whispering always, "Rest, rest."
THE POOR HOUSE
HOPE went by and Peace went by
And would not enter in;
Youth went by and Health went by
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