| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from United States Declaration of Independence: settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice
and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our
common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably
interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been
deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore,
acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them,
as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America,
in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of
the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name,
and by the Authority of the good People of these Colonies,
United States Declaration of Independence |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Black Dwarf by Walter Scott: immediately become unsafe to myself, as it has always been
hateful to you. But I have one protection, and it is a strong
one; for you would not willingly hear me detail before gentlemen,
and men of honour, the singular circumstances in which our
connexion took its rise. As to the rest, I rejoice at its
conclusion; and as I think that Mr. Mareschal and some other
gentlemen will guarantee the safety of my ears and of my throat
(for which last I have more reason to be apprehensive) during the
course of the night, I shall not leave your castle till to-morrow
morning."
"Be it so, sir," replied Mr. Vere; "you are entirely safe from my
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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 A Footnote to History by Robert Louis Stevenson: place, he built himself a town in the forest, where he received a
continual stream of visitors and messengers. Day after day the
German blue-jackets were employed in the hopeless enterprise of
beating the forests for the fugitive; day after day they were
suffered to pass unhurt under the guns of ambushed Samoans; day
after day they returned, exhausted and disappointed, to Apia.
Seumanu Tafa, high chief of Apia, was known to be in the forest
with the king; his wife, Fatuila, was seized, imprisoned in the
German hospital, and when it was thought her spirit was
sufficiently reduced, brought up for cross-examination. The wise
lady confined herself in answer to a single word. "Is your husband
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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 Disputation of the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences by Dr. Martin Luther: promise of release from penalty.
25. The power which the pope has, in a general way, over
purgatory, is just like the power which any bishop or curate
has, in a special way, within his own diocese or parish.
26. The pope does well when he grants remission to souls [in
purgatory], not by the power of the keys (which he does not
possess), but by way of intercession.
27. They preach man who say that so soon as the penny jingles
into the money-box, the soul flies out [of purgatory].
28. It is certain that when the penny jingles into the
money-box, gain and avarice can be increased, but the result
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