| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Sesame and Lilies by John Ruskin: quadruple it, by digging a coal shaft in the middle of the lawn, and
turning the flower-beds into heaps of coke. Would you do it? I
hope not. I can tell you, you would be wrong if you did, though it
gave you income sixty-fold instead of four-fold.
Yet this is what you are doing with all England. The whole country
is but a little garden, not more than enough for your children to
run on the lawns of, if you would let them all run there. And this
little garden you will turn into furnace ground, and fill with heaps
of cinders, if you can; and those children of yours, not you, will
suffer for it. For the fairies will not be all banished; there are
fairies of the furnace as of the wood, and their first gifts seem to
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Tanach: Exodus 7: 8 And the LORD spoke unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying:
Exodus 7: 9 'When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying: Show a wonder for you; then thou shalt say unto Aaron: Take thy rod, and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it become a serpent.'
Exodus 7: 10 And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so, as the LORD had commanded; and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent.
Exodus 7: 11 Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers; and they also, the magicians of Egypt, did in like manner with their secret arts.
Exodus 7: 12 For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents; but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods.
Exodus 7: 13 And Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had spoken.
Exodus 7: 14 And the LORD said unto Moses: 'Pharaoh's heart is stubborn, he refuseth to let the people go.
Exodus 7: 15 Get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning; lo, he goeth out unto the water; and thou shalt stand by the river's brink to meet him; and the rod which was turned to a serpent shalt thou take in thy hand.
Exodus 7: 16 And thou shalt say unto him: The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, hath sent me unto thee, saying: Let My people go, that they may serve Me in the wilderness; and, behold, hitherto thou hast not hearkened;
The Tanach |
