| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Malbone: An Oldport Romance by Thomas Wentworth Higginson: physical impulse to kiss them, as if they belonged to some
utter stranger, whom she might be nursing in a hospital. Emilia
looked as innocent as when Hope had tended her in the cradle.
What is there, Hope thought, in sleep, in trance, and in death,
that removes all harsh or disturbing impressions, and leaves
only the most delicate and purest traits? Does the mind
wander, and does an angel keep its place? Or is there really
no sin but in thought, and are our sleeping thoughts incapable
of sin? Perhaps even when we dream of doing wrong, the dream
comes in a shape so lovely and misleading that we never
recognize it for evil, and it makes no stain. Are our lives
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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 Chinese Boy and Girl by Isaac Taylor Headland: upon the dust of the earth.
"When the time for the battle came, he called upon the
Chief of the Wind and the Master of the Rain to assist him,
and there arose a great tempest. But the Chief sent the
Daughter of Heaven to quell the storm, and then seized and
slew the rebel. His spirit ascended to the Fire-Star (Mars)
--the embodiment of which he was while upon earth,--
where it resides and influences the conduct of warfare even
to the present time."
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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 Concerning Christian Liberty by Martin Luther: back below himself to his neighbour, still always-abiding in God
and His love, as Christ says, "Verily I say unto you, Hereafter
ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and
descending upon the Son of man" (John i. 51).
Thus much concerning liberty, which, as you see, is a true and
spiritual liberty, making our hearts free from all sins, laws,
and commandments, as Paul says, "The law is not made for a
righteous man" (1 Tim. i. 9), and one which surpasses all other
external liberties, as far as heaven is above earth. May Christ
make us to understand and preserve this liberty. Amen.
Finally, for the sake of those to whom nothing can be stated so
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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 La Grande Breteche by Honore de Balzac: "I closed my door, having been roused from my apathy by this last
speech, which the notary thought very funny; then I sat down in my
armchair, with my feet on the fire-dogs. I had lost myself in a
romance /a la/ Radcliffe, constructed on the juridical base given me
by Monsieur Regnault, when the door, opened by a woman's cautious
hand, turned on the hinges. I saw my landlady come in, a buxom, florid
dame, always good-humored, who had missed her calling in life. She was
a Fleming, who ought to have seen the light in a picture by Teniers.
" 'Well, monsieur,' said she, 'Monsieur Regnault has no doubt been
giving you his history of la Grande Breteche?'
" 'Yes, Madame Lepas.'
La Grande Breteche |
