| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Shakespeare's Sonnets by William Shakespeare: For all my vows are oaths but to misuse thee,
And all my honest faith in thee is lost:
For I have sworn deep oaths of thy deep kindness,
Oaths of thy love, thy truth, thy constancy;
And, to enlighten thee, gave eyes to blindness,
Or made them swear against the thing they see;
For I have sworn thee fair; more perjur'd I,
To swear against the truth so foul a lie.!
CLIII
Cupid laid by his brand and fell asleep:
A maid of Dian's this advantage found,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde: What on earth induced her to behave as she did, I never could understand.
She could have married anybody she chose. Carlington was mad after her.
She was romantic, though. All the women of that family were.
The men were a poor lot, but, egad! the women were wonderful.
Carlington went on his knees to her. Told me so himself. She laughed at him,
and there wasn't a girl in London at the time who wasn't after him.
And by the way, Harry, talking about silly marriages, what is this humbug your
father tells me about Dartmoor wanting to marry an American? Ain't English
girls good enough for him?"
"It is rather fashionable to marry Americans just now, Uncle George."
"I'll back English women against the world, Harry," said Lord Fermor,
The Picture of Dorian Gray |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Pocket Diary Found in the Snow by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner: "It is hers?" he murmured.
"It is hers," said Muller. "At least we can take that much for
granted, for the handkerchief bears the same monogram, A. L., which
is on the notebook."
Commissioner von Mayringen rose from his chair in evident excitement.
"Well?" he asked.
It was a short question, but full of meaning, and one could see that
he was waiting in great excitement for the answer. Muller reported
what he had discovered. The commissioner thought it little enough,
and shrugged his shoulders impatiently when the other had finished.
Muller noticed his chief's dissatisfaction and smiled at it. He
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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 Pagan and Christian Creeds by Edward Carpenter: celebrations--of either kind--as insincere. They were, at any
rate in their inception, genuinely religious or genuinely social
and festal; and from either point of view they were far better
than the secrecy of private indulgence which characterizes our
modern world in these matters. The thorough and shameless
commercialism of Sex has alas! been reserved for what is
called "Christian civilization," and with it (perhaps as
a necessary consequence) Prostitution and Syphilis have
grown into appalling evils, accompanied by a gigantic degradation
of social standards, and upgrowth of petty Philistinism
and niaiserie. Love, in fact, having in this modern
Pagan and Christian Creeds |
