| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Symposium by Plato: therefore I could not be angry with him or renounce his company, any more
than I could hope to win him. For I well knew that if Ajax could not be
wounded by steel, much less he by money; and my only chance of captivating
him by my personal attractions had failed. So I was at my wit's end; no
one was ever more hopelessly enslaved by another. All this happened before
he and I went on the expedition to Potidaea; there we messed together, and
I had the opportunity of observing his extraordinary power of sustaining
fatigue. His endurance was simply marvellous when, being cut off from our
supplies, we were compelled to go without food--on such occasions, which
often happen in time of war, he was superior not only to me but to
everybody; there was no one to be compared to him. Yet at a festival he
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum: wonderful gifts to children. The sweet generousness of his work
caused a few selfish folk to sneer, but even these were forced to
admit their respect for a man so gentle-natured that he loved to
devote his life to pleasing the helpless little ones of his race.
Therefore the inhabitants of every city and village had been eagerly
watching the coming of Claus, and remarkable stories of his beautiful
playthings were told the children to keep them patient and contented.
When, on the morning following the first trip of Claus with his deer,
the little ones came running to their parents with the pretty toys
they had found, and asked from whence they came, they was but one
reply to the question.
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Flame and Shadow by Sara Teasdale: Even this glistening hour.
O shaken flowers, O shimmering trees,
O sunlit white and blue,
Wound me, that I, through endless sleep,
May bear the scar of you.
Stars
Alone in the night
On a dark hill
With pines around me
Spicy and still,
And a heaven full of stars
|
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 Albert Savarus by Honore de Balzac: soul, especially when, abandoned to long day-dreams, I have lost
myself in anticipation of the joys of blissful love! May it not be
that our desire has only a certain modicum of power, and that it
perishes, perhaps, of a too lavish effusion of its essence? For,
after all, at this present, my life is fair, illuminated by faith,
work, and love.
"Farewell, my friend; I send love to your children, and beg you to
remember me to your excellent wife.--Yours,
"ALBERT."
Rosalie read this letter twice through, and its general purport was
stamped on her heart. She suddenly saw the whole of Albert's previous
Albert Savarus |
