| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Rewards and Fairies by Rudyard Kipling: edge to edge, and to hear the sea. I slept beneath the stars in my
cloak. The men talked among themselves.
'I led them, the next day, to the Trees, taking with me meat,
wool, and curdled milk, as I had promised. We found the Magic
Knives laid out on the grass, as the Children of the Night had
promised. They watched us from among the Trees. Their Priestess
called to me and said, "How is it with your people?" I said
"Their hearts are changed. I cannot see their hearts as I used to."
She said, "That is because you have only one eye. Come to me
and I will be both your eyes." But I said, "I must show my people
how to use their knives against The Beast, as you showed me how
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Ion by Plato: matters?
ION: True.
SOCRATES: You know the passage in which Hecamede, the concubine of Nestor,
is described as giving to the wounded Machaon a posset, as he says,
'Made with Pramnian wine; and she grated cheese of goat's milk with a
grater of bronze, and at his side placed an onion which gives a relish to
drink (Il.).'
Now would you say that the art of the rhapsode or the art of medicine was
better able to judge of the propriety of these lines?
ION: The art of medicine.
SOCRATES: And when Homer says,
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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 Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne: entrusted the log to my care; I was to register every observation,
make entries of interesting phenomena, the direction of the wind, the
rate of sailing, the way we made - in a word, every particular of our
singular voyage.
I shall therefore reproduce here these daily notes, written, so to
speak, as the course of events directed, in order to furnish an exact
narrative of our passage.
_Friday, August 14_. - Wind steady, N.W. The raft makes rapid way in
a direct line. Coast thirty leagues to leeward. Nothing in sight
before us. Intensity of light the same. Weather fine; that is to say,
that the clouds are flying high, are light, and bathed in a white
Journey to the Center of the Earth |
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 Of The Nature of Things by Lucretius: Whilst nauseous wormwood, pungent centaury,
With their foul flavour set the lips awry;
Thus simple 'tis to see that whatsoever
Can touch the senses pleasingly are made
Of smooth and rounded elements, whilst those
Which seem the bitter and the sharp, are held
Entwined by elements more crook'd, and so
Are wont to tear their ways into our senses,
And rend our body as they enter in.
In short all good to sense, all bad to touch,
Being up-built of figures so unlike,
Of The Nature of Things |
