| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Black Beauty by Anna Sewell: from another cause. I had heard horses speak of it, but had never myself
had experience of the evil; this was a badly-lighted stable;
there was only one very small window at the end, and the consequence
was that the stalls were almost dark.
Besides the depressing effect this had on my spirits,
it very much weakened my sight, and when I was suddenly brought out
of the darkness into the glare of daylight it was very painful to my eyes.
Several times I stumbled over the threshold, and could scarcely see
where I was going.
I believe, had I stayed there very long, I should have become purblind,
and that would have been a great misfortune, for I have heard men say
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Critias by Plato: fruits of the earth in ships, cutting transverse passages from one canal
into another, and to the city. Twice in the year they gathered the fruits
of the earth--in winter having the benefit of the rains of heaven, and in
summer the water which the land supplied by introducing streams from the
canals.
As to the population, each of the lots in the plain had to find a leader
for the men who were fit for military service, and the size of a lot was a
square of ten stadia each way, and the total number of all the lots was
sixty thousand. And of the inhabitants of the mountains and of the rest of
the country there was also a vast multitude, which was distributed among
the lots and had leaders assigned to them according to their districts and
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Letters of Two Brides by Honore de Balzac: serving you."
My dear, as I read these last words, he seemed to rise before me, pale
as the night when the camellias told their story and he knew his
offering was accepted. These words, in their humility, were clearly
something quite different from the usual flowery rhetoric of lovers,
and a wave of feeling broke over me; it was the breath of happiness.
The weather has been atrocious; impossible to go to the Bois without
exciting all sorts of suspicions. Even my mother, who often goes out,
regardless of rain, remains at home, and alone.
Wednesday evening.
I have just seen /him/ at the Opera, my dear; he is another man. He
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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 Aesop's Fables by Aesop: to cry soon, and a daintier morsel I haven't had for many a long
day." So he waited, and he waited, and he waited, till at last
the child began to cry, and the Wolf came forward before the
window, and looked up to the Nurse, wagging his tail. But all the
Nurse did was to shut down the window and call for help, and the
dogs of the house came rushing out. "Ah," said the Wolf as he
galloped away,
"Enemies promises were made to be broken."
The Tortoise and the Birds
A Tortoise desired to change its place of residence, so he
asked an Eagle to carry him to his new home, promising her a rich
Aesop's Fables |
