| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Golden Sayings of Epictetus by Epictetus: Blessed be Thou! for on Thee should call all things that are mortal.
For that we are Thine offspring; nay, all that in myriad motion
Lives for its day on the earth bears one impress--Thy likeness--upon it.
Wherefore my song is of Thee, and I hymn thy power for ever.
Lo, the vast orb of the Worlds, round the Earth evermore as it rolleth,
Feels Thee its Ruler and Guide, and owns Thy lordship rejoicing.
Aye, for Thy conquering hands have a servant of living fire--
Sharp is the bolt!--where it falls, Nature shrinks at the shock
and doth shudder.
Thus Thou directest the Word universal that pulses through all things,
Mingling its life with Lights that are great and Lights that are lesser,
The Golden Sayings of Epictetus |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Westward Ho! by Charles Kingsley: how you go in! the horses are near mad!"
However, the man was brought out after a while. With him all was
over. They could feel neither pulse nor breath.
"Carry him in too, poor wretch. And now, Yeo, what is the meaning
of all this?"
Yeo's story was soon told. He could not get out of his Puritan
head the notion (quite unfounded, of course) that Eustace had meant
to steal the horses. He had seen the inn-keeper sneak off at their
approach; and expecting some night-attack, he had taken up his
lodging for the night in the stable.
As he expected, an attempt was made. The door was opened (how, he
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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 Maid Marian by Thomas Love Peacock: I have grievously beaten my dearly beloved brethren: I grieve thereat;
but they enforced me thereto. I have beaten them much; I mowed them
down to the right and to the left, and left them like an ill-reaped field
of wheat, ear and straw pointing all ways, scattered in singleness and
jumbled in masses; and so bade them farewell, saying, Peace be with you.
But I must not tarry, lest danger be in my rear: therefore, farewell,
sweet Matilda; and farewell, noble baron; and farewell, sweet Matilda again,
the alpha and omega of father Michael, the first and the last."
"Farewell, father," said the baron, a little softened;
"and God send you be never assailed by more than fifty men
at a time."
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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 Court Life in China by Isaac Taylor Headland: Empress Dowager did not cut herself off from the progressives. Li
Hung-chang was appointed Viceroy of Kuangtung, Yuan Shih-kai
Governor of Shantung and Tuan Fang of Shensi while Liu Kun-yi,
Chang Chih-tung, and Kuei Chun were kept at their posts, so that
she had all the greatest men of both parties once more in her
service. Then she began sending out edicts, retracting those
issued by Kuang Hsu, and what could be more considerate of the
feelings of the Emperor, or more diplomatic as a state paper than
the following, issued in the name of Kuang Hsu, September 26,
1898.
"Our real desire was to make away with superfluous posts for the
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