| 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: of the Zulus and their Bishop still stand unmoved and immovable.
This is a case of searching intelligence shown by 'savages,'
an intelligence founded on intimate knowledge of the needs
of actual life. I think we may say that a, similarly instinctive
intelligence (sub-conscious if you like) has guided the tribes
of men on the whole in their long passage through the Red
Sea of the centuries, from those first days of which I
speak even down to the present age, and has in some strange,
even if fitful, way kept them along the path of that final
emancipation towards which Humanity is inevitably moving.
XII. THE SEX-TABOO
Pagan and Christian Creeds |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Essays of Francis Bacon by Francis Bacon: dors; the courts of justice, while they sit and hear
causes; and so of consistories ecclesiastic; the
churches and monasteries, with the monuments
which are therein extant; the walls and fortifica-
tions of cities, and towns, and so the heavens and
harbors; antiquities and ruins; libraries; colleges,
disputations, and lectures, where any are; ship-
ping and navies; houses and gardens of state and
pleasure, near great cities; armories; arsenals;
magazines; exchanges; burses; warehouses; exer-
cises of horsemanship, fencing, training of sol-
Essays of Francis Bacon |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Youth by Joseph Conrad: the clouds, no--not the size of a man's hand--no, not
for so much as ten seconds. There was for us no sky,
there were for us no stars, no sun, no universe--nothing
but angry clouds and an infuriated sea. We pumped
watch and watch, for dear life; and it seemed to last for
months, for years, for all eternity, as though we had been
dead and gone to a hell for sailors. We forgot the day
of the week, the name of the month, what year it was,
and whether we had ever been ashore. The sails blew
away, she lay broadside on under a weather-cloth, the
ocean poured over her, and we did not care. We turned
Youth |
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 Helen of Troy And Other Poems by Sara Teasdale: And bade me out, 'neath sun and stars,
For all the world was mine.
Oh take the sandals off my feet,
You know not what you do;
For all my world is in your arms,
My sun and stars are you.
The Rose and the Bee
If I were a bee and you were a rose,
Would you let me in when the gray wind blows?
Would you hold your petals wide apart,
Would you let me in to find your heart,
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