| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A treatise on Good Works by Dr. Martin Luther: name puff up the heart, and the heart find pleasure in them. Here
the saying of Solomon holds: "As the fire in the furnace proveth
the gold, so man is proved by the mouth of him that praises him."
Few and most spiritual men must they be, who, when honored and
praised, remain indifferent and unchanged, so that they do not
care for it, nor feel pride and pleasure in it, but remain
entirely free, ascribe all their honor and fame to God, offering
it to Him alone, and using it only to the glory of God, to the
edification of their neighbors, and in no way to their own
benefit or advantage; so that a man trust not in his own honor,
nor exalt himself above the most incapable, despised man on
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Dream Life and Real Life by Olive Schreiner: is sweet!
When she had finished she dug out another piece, and went to look for a
pantry to put it in. At the top of a heap of rocks up which she clambered
she found that some large stones stood apart but met at the top, making a
room.
"Oh, this is my little home!" she said.
At the top and all round it was closed, only in the front it was open.
There was a beautiful shelf in the wall for the kippersol, and she
scrambled down again. She brought a great bunch of prickly pear, and stuck
it in a crevice before the door, and hung wild asparagus over it, till it
looked as though it grew there. No one could see that there was a room
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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 Koran: the earth brings forth, and of themselves, and what they know not of!
And a sign to them is the night, from which we strip off the day,
and lo! they are in the dark; and the sun runs on to a place of rest
for it; that is the ordinance of the mighty, the wise.
And the moon, we have ordered for it stations, until it comes
again to be like an old dry palm branch.
Neither is it proper for it to catch up the moon, nor for the
night to outstrip the day, but each one floats on in its sky.
And a sign for them is that we bear their seed in a laden ship,
and we have created for them the like thereof whereon to ride; and
if we please, we drown them, and there is none for them to appeal
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 The Yates Pride by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman: "For instance," said Ethel, "we never look at the house opposite
because we are at all prying, but we do know that that old maid
has been doing a mighty queer thing lately."
"First thing you know you will be an old maid yourself, and then
your stones will break your own glass house," said Abby Simson.
"Oh, I don't care," retorted Ethel. "Nowadays an old maid isn't
an old maid except from choice, and everybody knows it. But it
must have been different in Miss Eudora's time. Why, she is older
than you are, Miss Abby."
"Just five years," replied Abby, unruffled, "and she had chances,
and I know it."
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