| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from De Profundis by Oscar Wilde: according to St. Thomas, one might call it - says somewhere that
Christ's great achievement was that he made himself as much loved
after his death as he had been during his lifetime. And certainly,
if his place is among the poets, he is the leader of all the
lovers. He saw that love was the first secret of the world for
which the wise men had been looking, and that it was only through
love that one could approach either the heart of the leper or the
feet of God.
And above all, Christ is the most supreme of individualists.
Humility, like the artistic, acceptance of all experiences, is
merely a mode of manifestation. It is man's soul that Christ is
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Maitre Cornelius by Honore de Balzac: throughout eternity."
"Twelve hundred and thirty, and eighty-seven thousand crowns, make
thirteen hundred and seventeen thousand crowns," replied Cornelius
mechanically, absorbed in his calculations. "Thirteen hundred and
seventeen thousand crowns hidden somewhere!"
"He must have buried them in some hiding-place," muttered the king,
beginning to think the sum royally magnificent. "That was the magnet
that invariably brought him back to Tours. He felt his treasure."
Coyctier entered at this moment. Noticing the attitude of Maitre
Cornelius, he watched him narrowly while the king related the
adventure.
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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 Travels of Sir John Mandeville by Sir John Mandeville: leave of the emperor. And, when he had won the city, he burnt the
temple and beat it down, and all the city, and took the Jews and
did them to death - 1,100,000; and the others he put in prison and
sold them to servage, - thirty for one penny; for they said they
bought Jesu for thirty pennies, and he made of them better cheap
when he gave thirty for one penny.
And after that time, Julian Apostate, that was emperor, gave leave
to the Jews to make the temple of Jerusalem, for he hated Christian
men. And yet he was christened, but he forsook his law, and became
a renegade. And when the Jews had made the temple, came an
earthquaking, and cast it down (as God would) and destroyed all
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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 The Pool in the Desert by Sara Jeanette Duncan: scolding would have been worth a sheaf of them. My studied little
phrases could only inoculate her with a dislike for me without
protecting her from anything under the sun.
However, I found she didn't dislike me, when John and I went home at
last to bring her out. She received me with just a hint of
kindness, perhaps, but on the whole very well.
Chapter 1.II
John was recalled, of course, before the end of our furlough, which
knocked various things on the head; but that is the sort of thing
one learned to take with philosophy in any lengthened term of Her
Majesty's service. Besides, there is usually sugar for the pill;
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