| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Complete Angler by Izaak Walton: And others say, that Eels, growing old, breed other Eels out of the
corruption of their own age; which, Sir Francis Bacon says, exceeds not
ten years. And others say, that as pearls are made of glutinous
dewdrops, which are condensed by the sun's heat in those countries, so
Eels are bred of a particular dew, falling in the months of May or June
on the banks of some particular ponds or rivers, apted by nature for that
end; which in a few clays are, by the sun's heat, turned into Eels: and
some of the Ancients have called the Eels that are thus bred, the
offspring of Jove. I have seen, in the beginning of July, in a river not far
from Canterbury, some parts of it covered over with young Eels, about
the thickness of a straw; and these Eels did lie on the top of that water,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Modeste Mignon by Honore de Balzac: See, she is there, at the angle of your desk, like Polyhymnia,
breathing the air of your presence, and glancing about her with a
curious eye. Sometimes in the fields where my husband would have
taken me to walk, I should have wept, apart and secretly, at sight
of a glorious morning; and in my heart, or hidden in a bureau-
drawer, I might have kept some treasure, the comfort of poor girls
ill-used by love, sad, poetic souls,--but ah! I have YOU, I
believe in YOU, my friend. That belief straightens all my thoughts
and fancies, even the most fantastic, and sometimes--see how far
my frankness leads me--I wish I were in the middle of the book we
are just beginning; such persistency do I feel in my sentiments,
Modeste Mignon |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy: confiscated, and he himself had barely escaped execution by
making his way out of prison, and having nothing to live upon had
come back to his father for support.
Turning to Ivan he said: "I came to ask you to care for us until
I can find something to do."
"Very well," Ivan replied; "you may remain with us."
Just as Ivan was about to sit down to the table Simeon's wife
made a wry face, indicating that she did not like the smell of
Ivan's sheep-skin coat; and turning to her husband she said, "I
shall not sit at the table with a moujik [peasant] who smells
like that."
The Kreutzer Sonata |
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 The Large Catechism by Dr. Martin Luther: the flesh and blood, but the commandment of God in which they are
comprehended, and on account of which the flesh is called father and
mother; so also, though we had no more than these words, Go ye and
baptize, etc., it would be necessary for us to accept and do it as the
ordinance of God. Now there is here not only God's commandment and
injunction, but also the promise, on account of which it is still far
more glorious than whatever else God has commanded and ordained, and
is, in short, so full of consolation and grace that heaven and earth
cannot comprehend it. But it requires skill to believe this, for the
treasure is not wanting, but this is wanting that men apprehend it and
hold it firmly.
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