| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Divine Comedy (translated by H.F. Cary) by Dante Alighieri: Into the deep abyss. "And somewhat strange,"
Thus to myself I spake, "signal so strange
Betokens, which my guide with earnest eye
Thus follows." Ah! what caution must men use
With those who look not at the deed alone,
But spy into the thoughts with subtle skill!
"Quickly shall come," he said, "what I expect,
Thine eye discover quickly, that whereof
Thy thought is dreaming." Ever to that truth,
Which but the semblance of a falsehood wears,
A man, if possible, should bar his lip;
The Divine Comedy (translated by H.F. Cary) |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Treatise on Parents and Children by George Bernard Shaw: say) make physical monsters. We revile them for it and proceed to
make moral monsters of our own children. The most excusable parents
are those who try to correct their own faults in their offspring. The
parent who says to his child: "I am one of the successes of the
Almighty: therefore imitate me in every particular or I will have the
skin off your back" (a quite common attitude) is a much more absurd
figure than the man who, with a pipe in his mouth, thrashes his boy
for smoking. If you must hold yourself up to your children as an
object lesson (which is not at all necessary), hold yourself up as a
warning and not as an example. But you had much better let the
child's character alone. If you once allow yourself to regard a child
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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 Common Sense by Thomas Paine: The inhabitants of that unfortunate city, who but a few months ago
were in ease and affluence, have now, no other alternative than
to stay and starve, or turn and beg. Endangered by the fire
of their friends if they continue within the city, and plundered
by the soldiery if they leave it. In their present condition
they are prisoners without the hope of redemption, and in
a general attack for their relief, they would be exposed
to the fury of both armies.
Men of passive tempers look somewhat lightly over the offenses
of Britain, and, still hoping for the best, are apt to call out,
"COME, COME, WE SHALL BE FRIENDS AGAIN, FOR ALL THIS."
Common Sense |
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 Les Miserables by Victor Hugo: making some other man than himself emerge from that portal,
the pure and disinterested intention of rescuing an assassin?
We may be permitted to doubt this.
Thenardier helped Jean Valjean to replace Marius on his shoulders,
then he betook himself to the grating on tiptoe, and barefooted,
making Jean Valjean a sign to follow him, looked out, laid his finger
on his mouth, and remained for several seconds, as though in suspense;
his inspection finished, he placed the key in the lock. The bolt
slipped back and the gate swung open. It neither grated nor squeaked.
It moved very softly.
It was obvious that this gate and those hinges, carefully oiled,
Les Miserables |
