| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Second Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling: The Outsong
HOW FEAR CAME
The stream is shrunk--the pool is dry,
And we be comrades, thou and I;
With fevered jowl and dusty flank
Each jostling each along the bank;
And by one drouthy fear made still,
Forgoing thought of quest or kill.
Now 'neath his dam the fawn may see,
The lean Pack-wolf as cowed as he,
And the tall buck, unflinching, note
The Second Jungle Book |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Protagoras by Plato: by art, and also, like ability, by madness and rage; but courage comes to
them from nature and the healthy state of the soul.
I said: You would admit, Protagoras, that some men live well and others
ill?
He assented.
And do you think that a man lives well who lives in pain and grief?
He does not.
But if he lives pleasantly to the end of his life, will he not in that case
have lived well?
He will.
Then to live pleasantly is a good, and to live unpleasantly an evil?
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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 Hated Son by Honore de Balzac: The coarse rivalry of an ambitious man hastened the destruction of
this honeyed life. The Duc d'Herouville, an old warrior in wiles and
policy, had no sooner passed his word to his physician than he was
conscious of the voice of distrust. The Baron d'Artagnon, lieutenant
of his company of men-at-arms, possessed his utmost confidence. The
baron was a man after the duke's own heart,--a species of butcher,
built for strength, tall, virile in face, cold and harsh, brave in the
service of the throne, rude in his manners, with an iron will in
action, but supple in manoeuvres, withal an ambitious noble,
possessing the honor of a soldier and the wiles of a politician. He
had the hand his face demanded,--large and hairy like that of a
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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 Moral Emblems by Robert Louis Stevenson: Opened his eyes and held his breath,
And flattered to the point of death;
And was at last, by that good fairy,
Apprenticed to the Apothecary.
So Ben, while Robin chose to roam,
A rising chemist was at home,
Tended his shop with learned air,
Watered his drugs and oiled his hair,
And gave advice to the unwary,
Like any sleek apothecary.
Meanwhile upon the deep afar
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