| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Large Catechism by Dr. Martin Luther: keep My commandments.
Although (as we have heard above) this appendix was primarily attached
to the First Commandment, it was nevertheless [we cannot deny that it
was] laid down for the sake of all the commandments, as all of them are
to be referred and directed to it. Therefore I have said that this,
too, should be presented to and inculcated upon the young, that they
may learn and remember it, in order to see what is to urge and compel
us to keep these Ten Commandments. And it is to be regarded as though
this part were specially added to each, so that it inheres in, and
pervades, them all.
Now, there is comprehended in these words (as said before) both an
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Marie by H. Rider Haggard: "My God! does he threaten that?" said Marais. "Surely you must have
misunderstood him, Allan."
"Do you think that I should lie to you on such a matter--" I began.
But, before I could proceed, the Vrouw Prinsloo thrust herself between
us, crying:
"Be silent, you, Marais, and you too, Allan. Is this a time that you
should quarrel and upset yourself, Allan, so that when the trial comes
you will shoot your worst and not your best? And is this a time, Henri
Marais, that you should throw insults at one on whom all our lives hang,
instead of praying for God's vengeance upon your accursed nephew? Come,
Allan, and take food. I have fried the liver of that heifer which the
Marie |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Simple Soul by Gustave Flaubert: greater meaning, but in which she poured out her feelings. In her
isolation, the parrot was almost a son, a love. He climbed upon her
fingers, pecked at her lips, clung to her shawl, and when she rocked
her head to and fro like a nurse, the big wings of her cap and the
wings of the bird flapped in unison. When clouds gathered on the
horizon and the thunder rumbled, Loulou would scream, perhaps because
he remembered the storms in his native forests. The dripping of the
rain would excite him to frenzy; he flapped around, struck the ceiling
with his wings, upset everything, and would finally fly into the
garden to play. Then he would come back into the room, light on one of
the andirons, and hop around in order to get dry.
A Simple Soul |
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 New Machiavelli by H. G. Wells: I remember I crossed Vauxhall Bridge and stood for a time watching
the huge black shapes in the darkness under the gas-works. A shoal
of coal barges lay indistinctly on the darkly shining mud and water
below, and a colossal crane was perpetually hauling up coal into
mysterious blacknesses above, and dropping the empty clutch back to
the barges. Just one or two minute black featureless figures of men
toiled amidst these monster shapes. They did not seem to be
controlling them but only moving about among them. These gas-works
have a big chimney that belches a lurid flame into the night, a
livid shivering bluish flame, shot with strange crimson streaks. . . .
On the other side of Lambeth Bridge broad stairs go down to the
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