| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Lay Morals by Robert Louis Stevenson: He was dressed, as for a gala, in peach-colour and silver;
his breast sparkled with stars and was bright with ribbons;
for he had held a levee in the afternoon and received a
distinguished personage incognito. Now he sat with a bowed
head, now walked precipitately to and fro, now went and gazed
from the uncurtained window, where the wind was still
blowing, and the lights winked in the darkness.
The bells of Avignon rose into song as he was gazing; and the
high notes and the deep tossed and drowned, boomed suddenly
near or were suddenly swallowed up, in the current of the
mistral. Tears sprang in the pale blue eyes; the expression
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Tanach: Joshua 2: 11 And as soon as we had heard it, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more spirit in any man, because of you; for the LORD your God, He is God in heaven above, and on earth beneath.
Joshua 2: 12 Now therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by the LORD, since I have dealt kindly with you, that ye also will deal kindly with my father's house--and give me a true token--
Joshua 2: 13 and save alive my father, and my mother, and my brethren, and my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death.'
Joshua 2: 14 And the men said unto her: 'Our life for yours, if ye tell not this our business; and it shall be, when the LORD giveth us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee.'
Joshua 2: 15 Then she let them down by a cord through the window; for her house was upon the side of the wall, and she dwelt upon the wall.
Joshua 2: 16 And she said unto them: 'Get you to the mountain, lest the pursuers light upon you; and hide yourselves there three days, until the pursuers be returned; and afterward may ye go your way.'
Joshua 2: 17 And the men said unto her: 'We will be guiltless of this thine oath which thou hast made us to swear.
Joshua 2: 18 Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by; and thou shalt gather unto thee into the house thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father's household.
The Tanach |
