| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Smalcald Articles by Dr. Martin Luther: First, purgatory. Here they carried their trade into purgatory
by masses for souls, and vigils, and weekly, monthly, and
yearly celebrations of obsequies, and finally by the Common
Week and All Souls Day, by soul-baths so that the Mass is used
almost alone for the dead, although Christ has instituted the
Sacrament alone for the living. Therefore purgatory, and every
solemnity, rite, and commerce connected with it, is to be
regarded as nothing but a specter of the devil. For it
conflicts with the chief article [which teaches] that only
Christ, and not the works of men, are to help [set free]
souls. Not to mention the fact that nothing has been
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates by Howard Pyle: and overrunning the whole western end of the island. There they
established themselves, spending the time alternately in hunting
the wild cattle and buccanning[1] the meat, and squandering
their hardly earned gains in wild debauchery, the opportunities
for which were never lacking in the Spanish West Indies.
[1] Buccanning, by which the "buccaneers" gained their name, was
of process of curing thin strips of meat by salting, smoking, and
drying in the sun.
At first the Spaniards thought nothing of the few travel-worn
Frenchmen who dragged their longboats and hoys up on the beach,
and shot a wild bullock or two to keep body and soul together;
Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Little Rivers by Henry van Dyke: "Ah'm thinkin' the gentleman micht find a coomfortaible lodgin' wi'
the weedow Macphairson a wee bittie doon the road. Her dochter is
awa' in Ameriky, an' the room is a verra fine room, an' it is a
peety to hae it stannin' idle, an' ye wudna mind the few steps to
and fro tae yir meals here, sir, wud ye? An' if ye 'ill gang wi'
me efter dinner, 'a 'll be prood to shoo ye the hoose."
So, after a good dinner with the English fishermen, Sandy piloted
me down the road through the thickening dusk. I remember a hoodie
crow flew close behind us with a choking, ghostly cough that
startled me. The Macpherson cottage was a snug little house of
stone, with fuchsias and roses growing in the front yard: and the
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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 Historical Lecturers and Essays by Charles Kingsley: become--a cunninger and more dainty-featured brute? Death itself,
which seems at times so fair, is fair because even it may raise me
up and deliver me from the burden of this animal and mortal body:
'Tis life, not death for which I pant;
'Tis life, whereof my nerves are scant;
More life, and fuller, that I want.
Man? I am a man not by reason of my bones and muscles, nerves and
brain, which I have in common with apes and dogs and horses. I am a
man--thou art a man or woman--not because we have a flesh--God
forbid! but because there is a spirit in us, a divine spark and ray,
which nature did not give, and which nature cannot take away. And
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