| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Father Sergius by Leo Tolstoy: and prayed also, and this is what God has suggested to me. At
the Tambov hermitage the anchorite Hilary, a man of saintly life,
has died. He had lived there eighteen years. The Tambov Abbot
is asking whether there is not a brother who would take his
place. And here comes your letter. Go to Father Paissy of the
Tambov Monastery. I will write to him about you, and you must
ask for Hilary's cell. Not that you can replace Hilary, but you
need solitude to quell your pride. May God bless you!'
Sergius obeyed the starets, showed his letter to the Abbot, and
having obtained his permission, gave up his cell, handed all his
possessions over to the monastery, and set out for the Tambov
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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 Jungle Tales of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs: At last he was within a few feet of her, and when he shot
a covert glance at her he saw that she was appraising him
and that there was no evidence of anger upon her face.
Taug expanded his great chest and rolled about on his
short legs, making strange growlings in his throat.
He raised his lips, baring his fangs. My, but what great,
beautiful fangs he had! Teeka could not but notice them.
She also let her eyes rest in admiration upon Taug's beetling
brows and his short, powerful neck. What a beautiful
creature he was indeed!
Taug, flattered by the unconcealed admiration in her eyes,
The Jungle Tales of Tarzan |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Pathology of Lying, Etc. by William and Mary Healy: The question of inheritance of similar mental traits is, of
course, important. We have found absolutely no proof of the
trait of pathological lying, as such, being inherited. The
reader will note with interest particularly the facts in Cases 2
and 4, where we at first thought we had to deal with inheritance,
but later found there was no blood relationship between the
supposed parent and child. In those instances the lying of the
younger individual was much more likely to be the result of
psychic contagion, and this also may be largely the explanation
of Cases 6 and 8, where an older relative was well known to be a
prevaricator. The bad inheritance in these cases then turns out
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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 The Sportsman by Xenophon: me orthos}, "what is incorrect in them"]. I append the three
translations of Gail, Lenz, and Talbot. "Je sais combien il est
avantageux de presenter des ouvrages methodiquement ecrits; aussi
par le meme sera-t-il plus facile de prouver aux sophistes leur
futilite!" {radion gar estai} [sub. {emoi}] {mempsasthai outois
takhu (to) me} (sous-entendu) {gegraphthai orthos} (Gail). "Zwar
entgeht mir nicht, dass es schon say die Worte kunstvoll zu
ordnen, denn leichter wird ihnen sonst, schnell, aber mit Unrecht
zu tadeln" (Lenz). "Aussi leur sera-t-il facile de me reprocher
d'ecrire vite et sans ordre" (Talbot). As if {takhu me orthos}
were the reproachful comment of the sophist on the author's
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