| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Barlaam and Ioasaph by St. John of Damascus: that take never a thought for the future, that always grasp after
bodily enjoyments, but suffer their souls to waste with hunger,
and to be worn with myriad ills, these I consider to be like a
man flying before the face of a rampant unicorn, who, unable to
endure the sound of the beast's cry, and its terrible bellowing,
to avoid being devoured, ran away at full speed. But while he
ran hastily, he fell into a great pit; and as he fell, he
stretched forth his hands, and laid hold on a tree, to which he
held tightly. There he established some sort of foot-hold and
thought himself from that moment in peace and safety. But he
looked and descried two mice, the one white, the other black,
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Princess by Alfred Tennyson: And worse-confounded: high above them stood
The placid marble Muses, looking peace.
Not peace she looked, the Head: but rising up
Robed in the long night of her deep hair, so
To the open window moved, remaining there
Fixt like a beacon-tower above the waves
Of tempest, when the crimson-rolling eye
Glares ruin, and the wild birds on the light
Dash themselves dead. She stretched her arms and called
Across the tumult and the tumult fell.
'What fear ye, brawlers? am not I your Head?
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Heritage of the Desert by Zane Grey: The rustler twisted his bound hands under his coat.
"Let's see them," said Hare, quickly. He grasped the fellow's arm and
received a violent push that almost knocked him over. Grappling with the
rustler, he pulled up the bound hands, in spite of fierce resistance, and
there were the long fingers, the sharp wart, the laced wristband.
"Here's my man!" he said.
"No," hoarsely mumbled the rustler. The perspiration ran down his corded
neck; his breast heaved convulsively.
"You fool!" cried Hare, dumfounded and resentful. "I recognized you.
Would you rather hang than live? What's your secret?"
He snatched off the black mask. The Bishop's eldest son stood revealed.
The Heritage of the Desert |
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 Ebb-Tide by Stevenson & Osbourne: marked in itself, and so remarkable in the man who uttered
them that Huish stared, and even the humiliated Davis reared
up his head and gazed at his defender. As for Herrick, the
successive agitations and disappointments of the day had left
him wholly reckless; he was conscious of a pleasant glow, an
agreeable excitement; his head seemed empty, his eyeballs
burned as he turned them, his throat was dry as a biscuit; the
least dangerous man by nature, except in so far as the weak are
always dangerous, at that moment he was ready to slay or to be
slain with equal unconcern.
Here at least was the gage thrown down, and battle offered;
|
