| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A House of Pomegranates by Oscar Wilde: precious. Six days I journeyed along the highways that lead to the
city of Ashter, along the dusty red-dyed highways by which the
pilgrims are wont to go did I journey, and on the morning of the
seventh day I lifted up my eyes, and lo! the city lay at my feet,
for it is in a valley.
'There are nine gates to this city, and in front of each gate
stands a bronze horse that neighs when the Bedouins come down from
the mountains. The walls are cased with copper, and the watch-
towers on the walls are roofed with brass. In every tower stands
an archer with a bow in his hand. At sunrise he strikes with an
arrow on a gong, and at sunset he blows through a horn of horn.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Little Britain by Washington Irving: pageants. How they exult in the idea that the King himself
dare not enter the city without first knocking at the gate of
Temple Bar, and asking permission of the Lord Mayor: for if
he did, heaven and earth! there is no knowing what might be
the consequence. The man in armor, who rides before the
Lord mayor, and is the city champion, has orders to cut down
everybody that offends against the dignity of the city; and then
there is the little man with a velvet porringer on his head, who
sits at the window of the state-coach, and holds the city sword,
as long as a pike-staff--Odd's blood! If he once draws that
sword, Majesty itself is not safe!
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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 $30,000 Bequest and Other Stories by Mark Twain: him overboard. They watched long and wonderingly for him to
come up, but not even a bubble rose on the quietly ebbing tide.
But while every one was most absorbed in gazing over the side,
and the interest was momentarily increasing, it was observed with
consternation that the vessel was adrift and the anchor-cable hanging
limp from the bow. Then in the ship's dimmed and ancient log we
find this quaint note:
"In time it was discouvered yt ye troblesome passenger hadde gone
downe and got ye anchor, and toke ye same and solde it to ye dam
sauvages from ye interior, saying yt he hadde founde it, ye sonne
of a ghun!"
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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 King James Bible: his angels:
MAT 25:42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty,
and ye gave me no drink:
MAT 25:43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye
clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
MAT 25:44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we
thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in
prison, and did not minister unto thee?
MAT 25:45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you,
Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to
me.
King James Bible |
