| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Tanach: Isaiah 52: 2 Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem; loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion.
Isaiah 52: 3 For thus saith the LORD: ye were sold for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money.
Isaiah 52: 4 For thus saith the Lord GOD: My people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.
Isaiah 52: 5 Now therefore, what do I here, saith the LORD, seeing that My people is taken away for nought? They that rule over them do howl, saith the LORD, and My name continually all the day is blasphemed.
Isaiah 52: 6 Therefore My people shall know My name; therefore they shall know in that day that I, even He that spoke, behold, here I am.
Isaiah 52: 7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger of good tidings, that announceth peace, the harbinger of good tidings, that announceth salvation; that saith unto Zion: 'Thy God reigneth!'
Isaiah 52: 8 Hark, thy watchmen! they lift up the voice, together do they sing; for they shall see, eye to eye, the LORD returning to Zion.
Isaiah 52: 9 Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem; for the LORD hath comforted His people, He hath redeemed Jerusalem.
Isaiah 52: 10 The LORD hath made bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.
The Tanach |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Ancient Regime by Charles Kingsley: Government of parvenus, uncertain of its own position, will be
continually trying to assert itself to itself, by vexatious
intermeddling and intruding pretensions; and then, when it meets
with the resistance of free and rational spirits, will either recoil
in awkward cowardice, or fly into a passion, and appeal to the
halter and the sword. Such a Government can never take itself for
granted, because it knows that it is not taken for granted by the
people. It never can possess the quiet assurance, the courteous
dignity, without swagger, yet without hesitation, which belongs to
hereditary legislators; by which term is to be understood, not
merely kings, not merely noblemen, but every citizen of a free
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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 Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne: cannon, quoth Trim, stamping.)--'See what convulsions it has thrown him
into!--Consider the nature of the posture in which he how lies stretched,--
what exquisite tortures he endures by it!'--(I hope 'tis not in Portugal.)-
-''Tis all nature can bear! Good God! see how it keeps his weary soul
hanging upon his trembling lips!' (I would not read another line of it,
quoth Trim for all this world;--I fear, an' please your Honours, all this
is in Portugal, where my poor brother Tom is. I tell thee, Trim, again,
quoth my father, 'tis not an historical account,--'tis a description.--'Tis
only a description, honest man, quoth Slop, there's not a word of truth in
it.--That's another story, replied my father.--However, as Trim reads it
with so much concern,--'tis cruelty to force him to go on with it.--Give me
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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 Poems by Oscar Wilde: Those scarlet heralds of eternal sleep.
Lily of love, pure and inviolate!
Tower of ivory! red rose of fire!
Thou hast come down our darkness to illume:
For we, close-caught in the wide nets of Fate,
Wearied with waiting for the World's Desire,
Aimlessly wandered in the House of gloom,
Aimlessly sought some slumberous anodyne
For wasted lives, for lingering wretchedness,
Till we beheld thy re-arisen shrine,
And the white glory of thy loveliness.
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