| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Tanach: Isaiah 44: 14 He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the ilex and the oak, and strengtheneth for himself one among the trees of the forest; he planteth a bay-tree, and the rain doth nourish it.
Isaiah 44: 15 Then a man useth it for fuel; and he taketh thereof, and warmeth himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto.
Isaiah 44: 16 He burneth the half thereof in the fire; with the half thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied; yea, he warmeth himself, and saith: 'Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire';
Isaiah 44: 17 And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image; he falleth down unto it and worshippeth, and prayeth unto it, and saith: 'Deliver me, for thou art my god.'
Isaiah 44: 18 They know not, neither do they understand; for their eyes are bedaubed, that they cannot see, and their hearts, that they cannot understand.
Isaiah 44: 19 And none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say: 'I have burned the half of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh and eaten it; and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? Shall I fall down to the stock of a tree?'
Isaiah 44: 20 He striveth after ashes, a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say: 'Is there not a lie in my right hand?'
Isaiah 44: 21 Remember these things, O Jacob, and Israel, for thou art My servant; I have formed thee, thou art Mine own servant; O Israel, thou shouldest not forget Me.
The Tanach |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Lesser Bourgeoisie by Honore de Balzac: the fact that he was a clerk in the office of the justice-of-peace;
but, before reaching his lair in the rue des Poules, she was met by
the porter of a house in which an uncle of hers, a certain Toupillier,
was living, who told her that the old man hadn't probably two days to
live, being then in the last extremity.
"Well, how do you expect me to help it?" replied the widow Cardinal.
"We count on you, my dear Madame Cardinal; we know you won't forget
the good advice we'll give you. Here's the thing. Lately, your poor
uncle, not being able to stir round, has trusted me to go and collect
the rents of his house, rue Notre-Dame de Nazareth, and the arrears of
his dividends at the Treasury, which come to eighteen hundred francs."
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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 Virginian by Owen Wister: them up. She made no quarrel with Em'ly, and the two understood
each other perfectly. I have never seen among animals any
arrangement so civilized and so perverted. It made Em'ly
perfectly happy. To see her sitting all day jealously spreading
her wings over some blind puppies was sufficiently curious; but
when they became large enough to come out from under the house
and toddle about in the proud hen's wake, I longed for some
distinguished naturalist. I felt that our ignorance made us
inappropriate spectators of such a phenomenon. Em'ly scratched
and clucked, and the puppies ran to her, pawed her with their fat
limp little legs, and retreated beneath her feathers in their
The Virginian |
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 Philebus by Plato: The desire of this, and even the sacrifice of our own interest to that of
other men, may become a passion to a rightly educated nature. The
Utilitarian finds a place in his system for this virtue and for every
other.'
Good or happiness or pleasure is thus regarded as the true and only end of
human life. To this all our desires will be found to tend, and in
accordance with this all the virtues, including justice, may be explained.
Admitting that men rest for a time in inferior ends, and do not cast their
eyes beyond them, these ends are really dependent on the greater end of
happiness, and would not be pursued, unless in general they had been found
to lead to it. The existence of such an end is proved, as in Aristotle's
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