| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Soul of a Bishop by H. G. Wells: single aim, which was also the aim that would make the whole
world one great order, and that aim was to make God King of one's
heart and the whole world. I saw that all this world, except for
a few base monstrous spirits, was suffering hideous things
because of this war, and before the war it was full of folly,
waste, social injustice and suspicion for the same reason,
because it had not realized the kingship of God. And that is so
simple; the essence of God is simplicity. The sin of this war
lies with men like myself, men who set up to tell people about
God, more than it lies with any other class--"
"Kings?" she interjected. "Diplomatists? Finance?"
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Battle of the Books by Jonathan Swift: And yet I scorn to interpose,
But using neither skill nor force,
Leave all things to their natural course."
The goddess thus pronounced her doom,
When, lo, Vanessa in her bloom,
Advanced like Atalanta's star,
But rarely seen, and seen from far:
In a new world with caution stepped,
Watched all the company she kept,
Well knowing from the books she read
What dangerous paths young virgins tread;
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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 Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle: the King and the Sheriff were to sit at the head of the table,
side by side.
It seemed to many of the good folk of the place as if the day
that should bring the King into the town would never come;
but all the same it did come in its own season, and bright
shone the sun down into the stony streets, which were all alive
with a restless sea of people. On either side of the way
great crowds of town and country folk stood packed as close
together as dried herring in a box, so that the Sheriffs men,
halberds in hands, could hardly press them back to leave space
for the King's riding.
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood |
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 Moral Emblems by Robert Louis Stevenson: A hoar, unconquerable pine.'
The second sniffed and answered: 'Pooh!
I am as good a pine as you.'
'Discourteous tree,' the first replied,
'The tempest in my boughs had cried,
The hunter slumbered in my shade,
A hundred years ere you were made.'
The second smiled as he returned:
'I shall be here when you are burned.'
So far dissension ruled the pair,
Each turned on each a frowning air,
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