| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Odyssey by Homer: did not say that he should never get home at all, for I knew you
had already nodded your head about it, and promised that he
should do so; but now they have brought him in a ship fast
asleep and have landed him in Ithaca after loading him with more
magnificent presents of bronze, gold, and raiment than he would
ever have brought back from Troy, if he had had his share of the
spoil and got home without misadventure."
And Jove answered, "What, O Lord of the Earthquake, are you
talking about? The gods are by no means wanting in respect for
you. It would be monstrous were they to insult one so old and
honoured as you are. As regards mortals, however, if any of them
The Odyssey |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Twilight Land by Howard Pyle: eyes.
"Who are you?" it said.
Aben Hassen the Fool fell upon his knees. "I am he who was sent
to bring you to life." he said. "My father turned you to cold
stone, and I--I have brought you back to warm life again."
The queen smiled--her teeth sparkled like pearls. "If you have
brought me to life, then I am yours," she said, and she kissed
him upon the lips.
He grew suddenly dizzy; the world swam before his eyes.
For seven days nothing was heard in the town but rejoicing and
joy. The young man lived in a golden cloud of delight. "And to
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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 1492 by Mary Johntson: hidden huts. We coasted, seeking anchorage, and at last
came into a clear, small harbor, and landing, filled our water
casks. We knew the country was inhabited for we saw the
smokes, but no canoes came about us, and though we met
with footprints upon the sand the men who made them
never returned. We weighed anchor and sailed on along the
southern coast, and now to the south of us, across not many
leagues of blue water, we made out a low shore. Its ends
were lost in haze, but we esteemed it an island, and he
named it Holy Island. It was not island, as now we know;
but we did not know it then. How dreamlike is all our
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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 God The Invisible King by H. G. Wells: distress at disharmony and the individual defeat by death, into the
Kingdom of God. And damnation can be nothing more and nothing less
than the failure or inability or disinclination to make that escape.
Something of that idea of damnation as a lack of the will for
salvation has crept at a number of points into contemporary
religious thought. It was the fine fancy of Swedenborg that the
damned go to their own hells of their own accord. It underlies a
queer poem, "Simpson," by that interesting essayist upon modern
Christianity, Mr. Clutton Brock, which I have recently read.
Simpson dies and goes to hell--it is rather like the Cromwell Road--
and approves of it very highly, and then and then only is he
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