| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Before Adam by Jack London: frail little body had whirled through the air and
shattered against the wall. The mother ran to it,
caught it up in her arms, and crouched over it crying.
Red-Eye started over to pick up the stick. Old
Marrow-Bone had tottered into his way. Red-Eye's great
hand shot out and clutched the old man by the back of
the neck. I looked to see his neck broken. His body
went limp as he surrendered himself to his fate.
Red-Eye hesitated a moment, and Marrow-Bone, shivering
terribly, bowed his head and covered his face with his
crossed arms. Then Red-Eye slammed him face-downward
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Enchanted Island of Yew by L. Frank Baum: yearned to suffer as he had done. When I could speak with him alone I
said: 'Pray tell me how I can manage to acquire the misfortunes you
have undergone. Here I have everything that I desire, and it makes me
very unhappy.'
"The stranger laughed at me, at first; and I found some pleasure in
the humiliation I then felt. But it did not last long, for presently
he grew sober and advised me to run away from home and seek adventure.
"'Once away from your father's castle,' said he, 'troubles will fall
upon you thick enough to satisfy even your longings.'
"'That is what I am afraid of!' I answered. 'I don't want to be
satisfied, even with troubles. What I seek is unsatisfied longings.'
The Enchanted Island of Yew |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe: cowards that fly from the hand of God, or that those who stay do not
sometimes owe their courage to their ignorance, and despising the
hand of their Maker - which is a criminal kind of desperation, and not
a true courage.
I cannot but leave it upon record that the civil officers, such as
constables, head-boroughs, Lord Mayor's and sheriffs'-men, as also
parish officers, whose business it was to take charge of the poor, did
their duties in general with as much courage as any, and perhaps with
more, because their work was attended with more hazards, and lay
more among the poor, who were more subject to be infected, and in
the most pitiful plight when they were taken with the infection. But
A Journal of the Plague Year |
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 Verses 1889-1896 by Rudyard Kipling: The fault that leaves six thousand ton a log upon the sea.
We'll tak' one stretch -- three weeks an' odd by any road ye steer --
Fra' Cape Town east to Wellington -- ye need an engineer.
Fail there -- ye've time to weld your shaft -- ay, eat it, ere ye're spoke;
Or make Kerguelen under sail -- three jiggers burned wi' smoke!
An' home again, the Rio run: it's no child's play to go
Steamin' to bell for fourteen days o' snow an' floe an' blow --
The bergs like kelpies overside that girn an' turn an' shift
Whaur, grindin' like the Mills o' God, goes by the big South drift.
(Hail, snow an' ice that praise the Lord: I've met them at their work,
An' wished we had anither route or they anither kirk.)
Verses 1889-1896 |
