| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Lysis by Plato: spathe, or her comb, or any other of her spinning implements.
Nay, Socrates, he replied, laughing; not only does she hinder me, but I
should be beaten if I were to touch one of them.
Well, I said, this is amazing. And did you ever behave ill to your father
or your mother?
No, indeed, he replied.
But why then are they so terribly anxious to prevent you from being happy,
and doing as you like?--keeping you all day long in subjection to another,
and, in a word, doing nothing which you desire; so that you have no good,
as would appear, out of their great possessions, which are under the
control of anybody rather than of you, and have no use of your own fair
Lysis |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Tanach: Numbers 32: 42 And Nobah went and took Kenath, and the villages thereof, and called it Nobah, after his own name.
Numbers 33: 1 These are the stages of the children of Israel, by which they went forth out of the land of Egypt by their hosts under the hand of Moses and Aaron.
Numbers 33: 2 And Moses wrote their goings forth, stage by stage, by the commandment of the LORD; and these are their stages at their goings forth.
Numbers 33: 3 And they journeyed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the morrow after the passover the children of Israel went out with a high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians,
Numbers 33: 4 while the Egyptians were burying them that the LORD had smitten among them, even all their first-born; upon their gods also the LORD executed judgments.
Numbers 33: 5 And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses, and pitched in Succoth.
Numbers 33: 6 And they journeyed from Succoth, and pitched in Etham, which is in the edge of the wilderness.
Numbers 33: 7 And they journeyed from Etham, and turned back unto Pihahiroth, which is before Baal-zephon; and they pitched before Migdol.
Numbers 33: 8 And they journeyed from Penehahiroth, and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness; and they went three days' journey in the wilderness of Etham, and pitched in Marah.
Numbers 33: 9 And they journeyed from Marah, and came unto Elim; and in Elim were twelve springs of water, and threescore and ten palm-trees; and they pitched there.
The Tanach |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Master Key by L. Frank Baum: get a shot at the thieves who robbed me. If our side wins I may get a
chance to recover some of my property. It's a slim chance, of course,
but it's the only hope I have left."
That very evening an opportunity occurred for Rob to win glory in the
eyes of his new friends. Just before sundown the gates of the city
flew open and a swarm of Turks, mounted upon fleet horses and camels,
issued forth and fell upon their enemies. The Tatars, who did not
expect the sally, were scarcely able to form an opposing rank when
they found themselves engaged in a hand-to-hand conflict, fighting
desperately for their lives. In such a battle, however, the Turks
were at a disadvantage, for the active Tatars slipped beneath their
The Master Key |
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 Out of Time's Abyss by Edgar Rice Burroughs: Then the Galu recommenced his, "Food! Food! There is a way out!"
Bradley tossed him another bit of dried meat, waiting patiently
until he had eaten it, this time more slowly.
"What do you mean by saying there is a way out?" he asked.
"He who died here just after I came, told me," replied An-Tak.
"He said there was a way out, that he had discovered it but was
too weak to use his knowledge. He was trying to tell me how to
find it when he died. Oh, Luata, if he had lived but a moment more!"
"They do not feed you here?" asked Bradley.
"No, they give me water once a day--that is all."
"But how have you lived, then?"
Out of Time's Abyss |
