| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Happy Prince and Other Tales by Oscar Wilde: He passed over the river, and saw the lanterns hanging to the masts
of the ships. He passed over the Ghetto, and saw the old Jews
bargaining with each other, and weighing out money in copper
scales. At last he came to the poor house and looked in. The boy
was tossing feverishly on his bed, and the mother had fallen
asleep, she was so tired. In he hopped, and laid the great ruby on
the table beside the woman's thimble. Then he flew gently round
the bed, fanning the boy's forehead with his wings. "How cool I
feel," said the boy, "I must be getting better"; and he sank into a
delicious slumber.
Then the Swallow flew back to the Happy Prince, and told him what
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Thus Spake Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche: forest, irresolute, ignorant where to go, beside a corpse:--
--When thou spakest: 'Let mine animals lead me! More dangerous have I
found it among men than among animals:'--THAT was forsakenness!
And dost thou remember, O Zarathustra? When thou sattest in thine isle, a
well of wine giving and granting amongst empty buckets, bestowing and
distributing amongst the thirsty:
--Until at last thou alone sattest thirsty amongst the drunken ones, and
wailedst nightly: 'Is taking not more blessed than giving? And stealing
yet more blessed than taking?'--THAT was forsakenness!
And dost thou remember, O Zarathustra? When thy stillest hour came and
drove thee forth from thyself, when with wicked whispering it said: 'Speak
Thus Spake Zarathustra |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe: mind to see him, unless it had been so that he might be satisfied
I knew who he was, which he was not willing to.
Then he entered into a long talk with her of the manner how
she came to know all this matter. She formed a long tale of
that part; how she had it from one that I had told the whole
story to, and that was to help me dispose of the goods; and
this confidante brought the things to her, she being by profession
a pawnbroker; and she hearing of his worship's disaster, guessed
at the thing in general; that having gotten the things into her
hands, she had resolved to come and try as she had done. She
then gave him repeated assurances that it should never go out
Moll Flanders |
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 Soul of the Far East by Percival Lowell: If the anniversaries of people are slightingly treated in the land
of the sunrise, the same cannot be said of plants. The yearly
birthdays of the vegetable world are observed with more than botanic
enthusiasm. The regard in which they are held is truly emotional,
and it not actually individual in its object, at least personal to
the species. Each kind of tree as its season brings it into flower
is made the occasion of a festival. For the beauty of the
blossoming receives the tribute of a national admiration.
From peers to populace mankind turns out to witness it. Nor are
these occasions few. Spring in the Far East is one long chain of
flower fetes, and as spring begins by the end of January and lasts
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