| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Disputation of the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences by Dr. Martin Luther: better; but by pardons man does not grow better, only more
free from penalty.
45. Christians are to be taught that he who sees a man in
need, and passes him by, and gives [his money] for pardons,
purchases not the indulgences of the pope, but the indignation
of God.
46. Christians are to be taught that unless they have more
than they need, they are bound to keep back what is necessary
for their own families, and by no means to squander it on
pardons.
47. Christians are to be taught that the buying of pardons 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 Montezuma's Daughter by H. Rider Haggard: minstrels armed with their accursed flutes, on which they blew in
season and out of it, dancing as they blew. In vain did I command
them to be silent, telling them that it was written of old that
there is a time to play and dance and a time to cease from dancing,
for in this alone they would not obey me. Never could I be at
peace because of them then or thereafter, and not till now did I
learn how great a treasure is solitude.
Still we were allowed to walk together under the trees, and though
the clamour of music pursued us wherever we went, we were soon deep
in talk. Then it was that I learned how dreadful was the fate
which overshadowed me.
Montezuma's Daughter |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Under the Andes by Rex Stout: stretch our diet would hardly have been conducive to health, but it
was exactly what I needed to put blood and strength in me. And
Harry and Desiree, too, for that matter.
Again I had to withstand Harry's eager demands for action. He
began within two hours to insist on exploring the cave, and would
hardly take a refusal.
"I won't stir a foot until I am able to knock you down," I
declared finally and flatly. "Never again will I attempt to
perform the feats of a Hercules when I am fit only for an invalid's
chair." And he was forced to wait.
As I say, however, my strength was not long in returning, and
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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 Water-Babies by Charles Kingsley: stream murmuring only one field beyond it, and yet it seemed to him
as if it was a hundred miles off.
He lay down on the grass till the beetles ran over him, and the
flies settled on his nose. I don't know when he would have got up
again, if the gnats and the midges had not taken compassion on him.
But the gnats blew their trumpets so loud in his ear, and the
midges nibbled so at his hands and face wherever they could find a
place free from soot, that at last he woke up, and stumbled away,
down over a low wall, and into a narrow road, and up to the
cottage-door.
And a neat pretty cottage it was, with clipped yew hedges all round
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