| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from King James Bible: Jehiel, and Zechariah, and Azariah, and Michael, and Shephatiah: all
these were the sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel.
CH2 21:3 And their father gave them great gifts of silver, and of gold,
and of precious things, with fenced cities in Judah: but the kingdom
gave he to Jehoram; because he was the firstborn.
CH2 21:4 Now when Jehoram was risen up to the kingdom of his father, he
strengthened himself, and slew all his brethren with the sword, and
divers also of the princes of Israel.
CH2 21:5 Jehoram was thirty and two years old when he began to reign,
and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.
CH2 21:6 And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, like as did
King James Bible |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Distinguished Provincial at Paris by Honore de Balzac: at Very's. And now, behold Lucien frisking and skipping, light of foot
because light of heart, on his way to the Terrasse des Feuillants to
take a look at the people of quality on promenade there. Pretty women
walk arm-in-arm with men of fashion, their adorers, couples greet each
other with a glance as they pass; how different it is from the terrace
at Beaulieu! How far finer the birds on this perch than the Angouleme
species! It is as if you beheld all the colors that glow in the
plumage of the feathered tribes of India and America, instead of the
sober European families.
Those were two wretched hours that Lucien spent in the Garden of the
Tuileries. A violent revulsion swept through him, and he sat in
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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 Maid Marian by Thomas Love Peacock: or laureate, Harpiton,[3] (whom he retained at moderate wages,
to keep a journal of his proceedings, and prove them all just and
legitimate), to the castle of Arlingford, to make proposals to the lady.
This Harpiton was a very useful person. He was always ready,
not only to maintain the cause of his master with his pen, and to sing
his eulogies to his harp, but to undertake at a moment's notice
any kind of courtly employment, called dirty work by the profane,
which the blessings of civil government, namely, his master's pleasure,
and the interests of social order, namely, his own emolument,
might require. In short,
Il eut l'emploi qui certes n'est pas mince,
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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 Ballads by Robert Louis Stevenson: Sat by themselves, nor raised their serious eyes, nor spoke:
Women with robes unruffled and garlands duly arranged,
Gazing far from the feast with faces of people estranged;
And quiet amongst the quiet, and fairer than all the fair,
Taheia, the well-descended, Taheia, heavy of hair.
And the soul of Rua awoke, courage enlightened his eyes,
And he uttered a summoning shout and called on the clan to rise.
Over against him at once, in the spotted shade of the trees,
Owlish and blinking creatures scrambled to hands and knees;
On the grades of the sacred terrace, the driveller woke to fear,
And the hand of the ham-drooped warrior brandished a wavering spear.
Ballads |
