| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Montezuma's Daughter by H. Rider Haggard: its sacred solitudes. With the rumbling came a shower of grey
ashes that rained down on us, and for a little while hid de Garcia
from my sight. I heard him call out in fear, and was afraid lest
he had fallen; but presently the ashes cleared away, and I saw him
standing safely on the lava rim that surrounds the crater.
Now, I thought, he will surely make a stand, for could he have
found courage it had been easy for him to kill me with his sword,
which he still wore, as I climbed from the ice to the hot lava. It
seemed that he thought of it, for he turned and glared at me like a
devil, then went on again, leaving me wondering where he believed
that he would find refuge. Some three hundred paces from the edge
Montezuma's Daughter |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from King James Bible: hand of him that was stronger than he.
JER 31:12 Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and
shall flow together to the goodness of the LORD, for wheat, and for
wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd: and
their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any
more at all.
JER 31:13 Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men
and old together: for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will
comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.
JER 31:14 And I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and
my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, saith the LORD.
King James Bible |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Simple Soul by Gustave Flaubert: There was a small growth under his tongue like those chickens are
sometimes afflicted with. Felicite pulled it off with her nails and
cured him. One day, Paul was imprudent enough to blow the smoke of his
cigar in his face; another time, Madame Lormeau was teasing him with
the tip of her umbrella and he swallowed the tip. Finally he got lost.
She had put him on the grass to cool him and went away only for a
second; when she returned, she found no parrot! She hunted among the
bushes, on the bank of the river, and on the roofs, without paying any
attention to Madame Aubain who screamed at her: "Take care! you must
be insane!" Then she searched every garden in Pont-l'Eveque and
stopped the passers-by to inquire of them: "Haven't you perhaps seen
A Simple Soul |
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 Tattine by Ruth Ogden [Mrs. Charles W. Ide]: how things were going on inside of the kettle, or to stop its boiling
instantly--you could just swing it away from the fire in no time, and not run
the risk of burning face or hands, or petticoats, if you belong to the
petticoat family.`
"Now," panted Tattine, for it was her turn to be breathless with running,
"I'll break the sugar if you two will make the fire, but Rudolph's to light it
and he's the only one who is to lean over it and put the wood on when it's
needed. Mamma says there is to be a very strict rule about that, because
skirts and fluffy hair like mine and Mabel's are very dangerous about a
fire," and then Tattine proceeded to roll the maple sugar in the brown paper
so as to have two or three thicknesses about it, and then, laying it upon a
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