| 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: KI1 14:26 And he took away the treasures of the house of the LORD, and
the treasures of the king's house; he even took away all: and he took
away all the shields of gold which Solomon had made.
KI1 14:27 And king Rehoboam made in their stead brasen shields, and
committed them unto the hands of the chief of the guard, which kept the
door of the king's house.
KI1 14:28 And it was so, when the king went into the house of the LORD,
that the guard bare them, and brought them back into the guard chamber.
KI1 14:29 Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam, and all that he did,
are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of
Judah?
King James Bible |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson by Robert Louis Stevenson: seem to bracket myself with you, that I am wholly blinded with
vanity. Jess is beyond my frontier line; I could not touch her
skirt; I have no such glamour of twilight on my pen. I am a
capable artist; but it begins to look to me as if you were a man of
genius. Take care of yourself, for my sake. It's a devilish hard
thing for a man who writes so many novels as I do, that I should
get so few to read. And I can read yours, and I love them.
A pity for you that my amanuensis is not on stock to-day, and my
own hand perceptibly worse than usual. - Yours,
ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON.
DECEMBER 5TH, 1892.
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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 The Wheels of Chance by H. G. Wells: that--"
"Lord LOVE us!" said Hoopdriver, and pulled the bedclothes over
his ears.
THE RIDING FORTH OF MR. HOOPDRIVER
IV.
Only those who toil six long days out of the seven, and all the
year round, save for one brief glorious fortnight or ten days in
the summer time, know the exquisite sensations of the First
Holiday Morning. All the dreary, uninteresting routine drops from
you suddenly, your chains fall about your feet. All at once you
are Lord of yourself, Lord of every hour in the long, vacant day;
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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 Soul of a Bishop by H. G. Wells: arms and looking level at the executioners' rifles. There were to
be no executioners' rifles.... If it was so with Dutch and
English, why shouldn't it be so presently with French and
Germans? Why someday shouldn't French, German, Dutch and English,
Russian and Pole, ride together under this new star of mankind,
the Southern Cross, to catch whatever last mischief-maker was
left to poison the wells of goodwill?
His mind resisted and struggled against these ideas. "Austere,"
he whispered. "The ennobling tests of war." A trooner rode up
alongside, and offered him a drink of water
"Just a mouthful," he said apologetically. "We've had to go
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