| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from King James Bible: almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away
much people, saying that they be no gods, which are made with hands:
ACT 19:27 So that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at
nought; but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be
despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and
the world worshippeth.
ACT 19:28 And when they heard these sayings, they were full of wrath,
and cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.
ACT 19:29 And the whole city was filled with confusion: and having
caught Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul's companions in
travel, they rushed with one accord into the theatre.
King James Bible |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Frankenstein by Mary Shelley: as a true history. It moved every feeling of wonder and awe that the picture
of an omnipotent God warring with his creatures was capable of exciting.
I often referred the several situations, as their similarity struck me,
to my own. Like Adam, I was apparently united by no link to any other
being in existence; but his state was far different from mine in every
other respect. He had come forth from the hands of God a perfect creature,
happy and prosperous, guarded by the especial care of his Creator;
he was allowed to converse with and acquire knowledge from beings
of a superior nature, but I was wretched, helpless, and alone.
Many times I considered Satan as the fitter emblem of my condition,
for often, like him, when I viewed the bliss of my protectors,
Frankenstein |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from 1984 by George Orwell: doing evil that good might come, sacrificing its own happiness to that of
others. The terrible thing, thought Winston, the terrible thing was that
when O'Brien said this he would believe it. You could see it in his face.
O'Brien knew everything. A thousand times better than Winston he knew what
the world was really like, in what degradation the mass of human beings
lived and by what lies and barbarities the Party kept them there. He had
understood it all, weighed it all, and it made no difference: all was
justified by the ultimate purpose. What can you do, thought Winston,
against the lunatic who is more intelligent than yourself, who gives your
arguments a fair hearing and then simply persists in his lunacy?
'You are ruling over us for our own good,' he said feebly. 'You believe
1984 |
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 Before Adam by Jack London: through the forest, looking back and laughing as we
ran.
By the middle of the day we came to a neck of land,
made, as we afterward discovered, by a great curve of
the river that almost completed a circle. Right across
the neck lay bunched several low and partly wooded
hills. Over these we climbed, looking backward at the
forest which had become a sea of flame that swept
eastward before a rising wind. We continued to the
west, following the river bank, and before we knew it
we were in the midst of the abiding-place of the Fire
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