| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Youth by Joseph Conrad: had been one jewel, one colossal sapphire, a single gem
fashioned into a planet. And on the luster of the great
calm waters the Judea glided imperceptibly, enveloped
in languid and unclean vapors, in a lazy cloud that
drifted to leeward, light and slow: a pestiferous cloud
defiling the splendor of sea and sky.
"All this time of course we saw no fire. The cargo
smoldered at the bottom somewhere. Once Mahon, as
we were working side by side, said to me with a queer
smile: 'Now, if she only would spring a tidy leak--
like that time when we first left the Channel--it would
Youth |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin: given by the city of New York to Lord Loudoun, on his taking upon him
the command. Shirley, tho' thereby superseded, was present also.
There was a great company of officers, citizens, and strangers, and,
some chairs having been borrowed in the neighborhood, there was one among
them very low, which fell to the lot of Mr. Shirley. Perceiving it
as I sat by him, I said, "They have given you, sir, too low a seat."
"No matter," says he, "Mr. Franklin, I find a low seat the easiest."
While I was, as afore mention'd, detain'd at New York, I receiv'd
all the accounts of the provisions, etc., that I had furnish'd
to Braddock, some of which accounts could not sooner be obtain'd
from the different persons I had employ'd to assist in the business.
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Koran: And say, 'O my Lord! make me enter with a just entry; and make me
come forth with a just coming forth; and grant me from Thee
authority to aid.'
And say, 'Truth has come, and falsehood has vanished! verily,
falsehood is transient.'
And we will send down of the Koran that which is a healing and a
mercy to the believers, but it will only increase the wrong-doers in
loss.
And when we favour man he turns away and retires aside, but when
evil touches him he is ever in despair. Say, 'Every one acts after his
own manner, but your Lord knows best who is most guided in the way.'
The Koran |
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 Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe: I will read, and you shall listen;--and so we will pass away this
terrible night together."
The antique volume which I had taken up was the "Mad
Trist" of Sir Launcelot Canning; but I had called it a favourite
of Usher's more in sad jest than in earnest; for, in truth, there
is little in its uncouth and unimaginative prolixity which could
have had interest for the lofty and spiritual ideality of my
friend. It was, however, the only book immediately at hand; and
I indulged a vague hope that the excitement which now agitated
the hypochondriac, might find relief (for the history of mental
disorder is full of similar anomalies) even in the extremeness of
The Fall of the House of Usher |
