| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Tanach: 1_Chronicles 26: 28 And all that Samuel the seer, and Saul the son of Kish, and Abner the son of Ner, and Joab the son of Zeruiah, had dedicated; whosoever had dedicated any thing, it was under the hand of Shelomith, and of his brethren.
1_Chronicles 26: 29 Of the Izharites, Chenaniah and his sorts were for the outward business over Israel, for officers and judges.
1_Chronicles 26: 30 Of the Hebronites, Hashabiah and his brethren, men of valour, a thousand and seven hundred, had the oversight of Israel beyond the Jordan westward; for all the business of the LORD, and for the service of the king.
1_Chronicles 26: 31 Of the Hebronites was Jerijah the chief, even of the Hebronites, according to their generations by fathers' houses. In the fortieth year of the reign of David they were sought for, and there were found among them mighty men of valour at Jazer of Gilead.
1_Chronicles 26: 32 And his brethren, men of valour, were two thousand and seven hundred, heads of fathers' houses, whom king David made overseers over the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half-tribe of the Manassites, for every matter pertaining to God, and for the affairs of the king.
1_Chronicles 27: 1 Now the children of Israel after their number, to wit, the heads of fathers' houses and the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and their officers that served the king, in any matter of the courses which came in and went out month by month throughout all the months of the year, of every course were twenty and four thousand.
The Tanach |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Complete Poems of Longfellow by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Companionless, unsatisfied, forlorn,
I sit here in this lonely tower, and look
Upon the lake below me, and the hills
That swoon with heat, and see as in a vision
All my past life unroll itself before me.
The princes and the merchants come to me,
Merchants of Tyre and Princes of Damascus.
And pass, and disappear, and are no more;
But leave behind their merchandise and jewels,
Their perfumes, and their gold, and their disgust.
I loathe them, and the very memory of them
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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 Buttered Side Down by Edna Ferber: room. And even as the poison of this was eating into her heart she
was tapping her forefinger imperatively on the desk before her and
saying to Tony, the Crook:
"Down on the table with that tray, Tony--flat. This may be a
busy little New Year's Eve, but you can't come any of your
sleight-of-hand stuff on me." For Tony had a little trick of
concealing a dollar-and-a-quarter sirloin by the simple method of
slapping the platter close to the underside of his tray and holding
it there with long, lean fingers outspread, the entire bit of
knavery being concealed in the folds of a flowing white napkin in
the hand that balanced the tray. Into Tony's eyes there came a
Buttered Side Down |
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 Resurrection by Leo Tolstoy: lay stretched along both sides of the road, and the crosses and
cupolas of a monastery appeared in the distance. The clouds had
dispersed, and it had cleared up completely; the leaves, the
frozen puddles and the gilt crosses and cupolas of the monastery
glittered brightly in the sun that had risen above the forest. A
little to the right mountains began to gleam white in the
blue-grey distance, and the trap entered a large village. The
village street was full of people, both Russians and other
nationalities, wearing peculiar caps and cloaks. Tipsy men and
women crowded and chattered round booths, traktirs, public houses
and carts. The vicinity of a town was noticeable. Giving a pull
Resurrection |
