| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Koran: (V. Medinah.)
IN the name of the merciful and compassionate God.
O ye who believe! fulfil your compacts.- Lawful for you are brute
beasts, save what is here recited to you, not allowing you the chase
while ye are on pilgrimage; verily, God ordaineth what He will.
O ye who believe! do not deem the monuments of God to be lawful, nor
the sacred month, nor the offering, nor its neck garlands, nor those
who sojourn at the sacred house, craving grace from their Lord and His
pleasure.
But when ye are in lawful state again, then chase; and let not
ill-will against the people who turned you from the Sacred Mosque make
The Koran |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Long Odds by H. Rider Haggard: I did not like to leave either of the boys with it at night. I was in a
very bad temper, indeed, although I was pretty well used to these sort
of occurrences, and soothed myself by taking a rifle and going to kill
something. For a couple of hours I poked about without seeing anything
that I could get a shot at, but at last, just as I was again within
seventy yards of the waggon, I put up an old Impala ram from behind a
mimosa thorn. He ran straight for the waggon, and it was not till he
was passing within a few feet of it that I could get a decent shot at
him. Then I pulled, and caught him half-way down the spine. Over he
went, dead as a door-nail, and a pretty shot it was, though I ought not
to say it. This little incident put me into rather a better humour,
Long Odds |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Salome by Oscar Wilde: tres mauvais presage.
HERODIAS. Qu'est-ce que cela vous fait qu'elle danse dans le sang?
Vous avez bien marche dedans, vous . . .
HERODE. Qu'est-ce que cela me fait? Ah! regardez la lune! Elle
est devenue rouge. Elle est devenue rouge comme du sang. Ah! le
prophete l'a bien predit. Il a predit que la lune deviendrait rouge
comme du sang. N'est-ce pas qu'il a predit cela? Vous l'avez tous
entendu. La lune est devenue rouge comme du sang. Ne le voyez-vous
pas?
HERODIAS. Je le vois bien, et les etoiles tombent comme des figues
vertes, n'est-ce pas? Et le soleil devient noir comme un sac de
|
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 Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde: When he entered, a young man with smooth yellow hair, who was
bending over a lamp lighting a long thin pipe, looked up at him
and nodded in a hesitating manner.
"You here, Adrian?" muttered Dorian.
"Where else should I be?" he answered, listlessly. "None of the chaps
will speak to me now."
"I thought you had left England."
"Darlington is not going to do anything. My brother paid the bill at last.
George doesn't speak to me either. . . . I don't care," he added
with a sigh. "As long as one has this stuff, one doesn't want friends.
I think I have had too many friends."
The Picture of Dorian Gray |
