| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Herodias by Gustave Flaubert: the rear. At the base of the citadel, crowding against one another, a
group of houses stood within the circle of a wall, whose outlines
undulated with the unevenness of the soil. A zigzag road, cutting
through the rocks, joined the city to the fortress, the walls of which
were about one hundred and twenty cubits high, having numerous angles
and ornamental towers that stood out like jewels in this crown of
stone overhanging an abyss.
Within the high walls stood a palace, adorned with many richly carved
arches, and surrounded by a terrace that on one side of the building
spread out below a wide balcony made of sycamore wood, upon which tall
poles had been erected to support an awning.
Herodias |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Beast in the Jungle by Henry James: "That's what you were to show me."
He still, however, wondered. "But doesn't the man of courage know
what he's afraid of--or not afraid of? I don't know THAT, you see.
I don't focus it. I can't name it. I only know I'm exposed."
"Yes, but exposed--how shall I say?--so directly. So intimately.
That's surely enough."
"Enough to make you feel then--as what we may call the end and the
upshot of our watch--that I'm not afraid?"
"You're not afraid. But it isn't," she said, "the end of our
watch. That is it isn't the end of yours. You've everything still
to see."
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Koran: stones of baked clay. Verily, in that is a sign to those who mark.
And, verily, the (cities) are on a path that still remains. Verily, in
that is a sign to the believers.
And the fellows of the Grove too were unjust; and we took
vengeance on them, and, verily, they both are for an obvious example.
And the fellows of El 'Hagr called the messengers liars, and we
brought them our signs, but they therefrom did turn away. And they did
hew them in the mountain houses to dwell in in safety.
But the noise caught them in the morn; and that which they had
earned availed them naught.
We did not create the heavens and the earth and all that is
The Koran |
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 Twilight Land by Howard Pyle: "Thou shalt have thy desire," said the Demon. Thereupon he smote
his hands together like a clap of thunder, and instantly the
walls of the room clove asunder, and there came out
four-and-twenty handsome youths, clad in cloth of gold and
silver. After these four-and-twenty there came another one who
was the chief of them all, and before whom, splendid as they
were, the four-and-twenty paled like stars in daylight. "Go to
the king's palace," said the Demon to that one, "and deliver this
message: The Tailor of Tailors, the Master of Masters, and One
Greater than a King asks for his daughter to wife."
"To hear is to obey," said the other, and bowed his forehead to
|
