| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Maitre Cornelius by Honore de Balzac: himself would not sup with Cornelius. Next, he told the miser to close
his windows with the utmost care, that no single ray of light should
escape from the house, and then he departed with much pomp for Plessis
along the embankment; but there he secretly left his escort, and
returned by a door in the ramparts to the house of the torconnier. All
these precautions were so well taken that the people of Tours really
thought the king had returned to Plessis, and would sup on the morrow
with Cornelius.
Towards eight o'clock that evening, as the king was supping with his
physician, Cornelius, and the captain of his guard, and holding much
jovial converse, forgetting for the time being that he was ill and in
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians by Martin Luther: our righteousness."
You may say, "The trouble is I don't feel as if I am righteous." You must
not feel, but believe. Unless you believe that you are righteous, you do
Christ a great wrong, for He has cleansed you by the washing of
regeneration, He died for you so that through Him you may obtain
righteousness and everlasting life.
VERSE 6. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing,
nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love.
Faith must of course be sincere. It must be a faith that performs good
works through love. If faith lacks love it is not true faith. Thus the Apostle
bars the way of hypocrites to the kingdom of Christ on all sides. He
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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 The Gods of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: "Who are you?" she asked, "and what your mission, that
you have the temerity to attempt to escape from the Valley
Dor and the death you have chosen?"
"I have chosen no death, maiden," I replied. "I am not of
Barsoom, nor have I taken yet the voluntary pilgrimage upon
the River Iss. My friend here is Jeddak of all the Tharks,
and though he has not yet expressed a desire to return to
the living world, I am taking him with me from the living
lie that hath lured him to this frightful place.
"I am of another world. I am John Carter, Prince of the
House of Tardos Mors, Jeddak of Helium. Perchance some
The Gods of Mars |
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 Herodias by Gustave Flaubert: of her humiliation one day when she was travelling towards Gilead, in
order to purchase some of the balm for which that region was famous.
"A multitude was standing on the banks of the stream, my lord; many of
the people were putting on their raiment. Standing on a hillock, a
strange man was speaking to the gathering. A camel's-skin was wrapped
about his loins, and his head was like that of a lion. As soon as he
saw me, he launched in my direction all the maledictions of the
prophets. His eyes flamed, his voice shook, he raised his arms as if
he would draw down lightning upon my head. I could not fly from him;
the wheels of my chariot sank in the sand up to the middle; and I
could only crawl along, hiding my head with my mantle, and frozen with
Herodias |
