| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Tanach: 1_Kings 9: 1 And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished the building of the house of the LORD, and the king's house, and all Solomon's delight which he was pleased to do,
1_Kings 9: 2 that the LORD appeared to Solomon the second time, as He had appeared unto him at Gibeon.
1_Kings 9: 3 And the LORD said unto him: 'I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou hast made before Me: I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put My name there for ever; and Mine eyes and My heart shall be there perpetually.
1_Kings 9: 4 And as for thee, if thou wilt walk before Me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep My statutes and Mine ordinances;
1_Kings 9: 5 then I will establish the throne of thy kingdom over Israel for ever; according as I promised to David thy father, saying: There shall not fail thee a man upon the throne of Israel.
1_Kings 9: 6 But if ye shall turn away from following Me, ye or your children, and not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, but shall go and serve other gods, and worship them;
1_Kings 9: 7 then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for My name, will I cast out of My sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a by word among all peoples;
The Tanach |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Maid Marian by Thomas Love Peacock: of bowling, coiling, pitching, hurling, racing, leaping, grinning,
wrestling or friendly dislocation of joints, and cudgel-playing
or amicable cracking of skulls, the trial of archery ensued.
The conqueror was to be rewarded with a golden arrow from the hand
of the Queen of the May, who was to be his partner in the dance till
the close of the feast. This stimulated the knight's emulation:
young Gamwell supplied him with a bow and arrow, and he took his
station among the foresters, but had the mortification to be out-shot
by them all, and to see one of them lodge the point of his arrow
in the golden ring of the centre, and receive the prize from the hand
of the beautiful Matilda, who smiled on him with particular grace.
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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 Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia by Samuel Johnson: who then," says he, "will be suffered to be wretched?"
Imlac permitted the pleasing delusion, and was unwilling to crush
the hope of inexperience: till one day, having sat awhile silent,
"I know not," said the Prince, "what can be the reason that I am
more unhappy than any of our friends. I see them perpetually and
unalterably cheerful, but feel my own mind restless and uneasy. I
am unsatisfied with those pleasures which I seem most to court. I
live in the crowds of jollity, not so much to enjoy company as to
shun myself, and am only loud and merry to conceal my sadness."
"Every man," said Imlac, "may by examining his own mind guess what
passes in the minds of others. When you feel that your own gaiety
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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 Lord Arthur Savile's Crime, etc. by Oscar Wilde: Bexley Moor,' and the FURORE he had excited one lovely June evening
by merely playing ninepins with his own bones upon the lawn-tennis
ground. And after all this, some wretched modern Americans were to
come and offer him the Rising Sun Lubricator, and throw pillows at
his head! It was quite unbearable. Besides, no ghosts in history
had ever been treated in this manner. Accordingly, he determined
to have vengeance, and remained till daylight in an attitude of
deep thought.
CHAPTER III
THE next morning when the Otis family met at breakfast, they
discussed the ghost at some length. The United States Minister was
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