| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Sanitary and Social Lectures by Charles Kingsley: the leaves and stems of trees, magically locked up for ages in
that black stone, to become, when it is burnt at last, light and
carbonic acid as it was at first. For though you must not breathe
your breath again, you may at least eat your breath, if you will
allow the sun to transmute it for you into vegetables; or you may
enjoy its fragrance and its colour in the shape of a lily or a
rose. When you walk in a sunlit garden, every word you speak,
every breath you breathe, is feeding the plants and flowers
around. The delicate surface of the green leaves absorbs the
carbonic acid, and parts it into its elements, retaining the
carbon to make woody fibre, and courteously returning you the
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Royalty Restored/London Under Charles II by J. Fitzgerald Molloy: George Villiers second Duke of Buckingham, was not less notable
than my Lord Rochester. By turns he played such diverse parts in
life's strange comedy as that of a spendthrift and a miser, a
profligate and a philosopher, a statesman who sought the ruin of
his country, and a courtier who pandered to the pleasures of his
king. But inasmuch as this history is concerned with the social
rather than the political life of those mentioned in its pages,
place must be given to such adventures as were connected with the
court and courtiers. Buckingham's were chiefly concerned with
his intrigues, which, alas! were many and strange; for though
his wife was loving and virtuous, she was likewise lean and
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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 Historical Lecturers and Essays by Charles Kingsley: Bound by gold chains unto the throne of God.
His work was very different from any that need be done, or can be
done, in these our days. But while we thank God that such work is
now as unnecessary as impossible; we may thank God likewise that,
when such work was necessary and possible, a man was raised up to do
it: and to do it, as all accounts assert, better, perhaps, than it
had ever been done before or since.
True, the old conquerors, who absorbed nation after nation, tribe
after tribe, and founded empires on their ruins, are now, I trust,
about to be replaced, throughout the world, as here and in Britain
at home, by free self-governed peoples:
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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 A Personal Record by Joseph Conrad: "But there's only one cable. You've lost the other."
It was exasperating.
"Then I would back them, if I could, and tail the heaviest hawser
on board on the end of the chain before letting go, and if she
parted from that, which is quite likely, I would just do nothing.
She would have to go."
"Nothing more to do, eh?"
"No, sir. I could do no more."
He gave a bitter half-laugh.
"You could always say your prayers."
He got up, stretched himself, and yawned slightly. It was a
A Personal Record |
