| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Allan Quatermain by H. Rider Haggard: yield; in vain did we hack and trample them down as we ploughed
a broad red furrow through their thousands; they seemed to re-arise
by hundreds, driving their terrible sharp swords into our horses,
or severing their hamstrings, and then hacking the troopers who
came to the ground with them almost into pieces. My horse was
speedily killed under me, but luckily I had a fresh one, my own
favourite, a coal-black mare Nyleptha had given me, being held
in reserve behind, and on this I afterwards mounted. Meanwhile
I had to get along as best I could, for I was pretty well lost
sight of by my men in the mad confusion of the moment. My voice,
of course, could not be heard in the midst of the clanging of
Allan Quatermain |
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: the father of a nation, and she hoped that she would be the mother of this
promised nation. But with the passage of the years her hope died out. In
order that the promise of God should not be annulled by her barrenness
this holy woman resigned her right and honor to her maid. This was no
easy thing for her to do. She abased herself. She thought: "God is no liar.
What He has promised He will perform. But perhaps God does not want
me to be the mother of Abraham's posterity. Perhaps He prefers Hagar for
the honor."
Ishmael was thus born without a special word or promise of God, at the
mere request of Sarah. God did not command Abraham to take Hagar, nor
did God promise to bless the coalition. It is evident that Ishmael was the
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Love Songs by Sara Teasdale: And I must give them to you, all of them,
Before they fade. The people I have met,
The play I saw, the trivial, shifting things
That loom too big or shrink too little, shadows
That hurry, gesturing along a wall,
Haunting or gay -- and yet they all grow real
And take their proper size here in my heart
When you have seen them. . . . There's the Plaza now,
A lake of light! To-night it almost seems
That all the lights are gathered in your eyes,
Drawn somehow toward you. See the open park
|
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 Mosses From An Old Manse by Nathaniel Hawthorne: found himself amid calm night and solitude, listening to a roar
of the wind which died heavily away through the forest. He
staggered against the rock, and felt it chill and damp; while a
hanging twig, that had been all on fire, besprinkled his cheek
with the coldest dew.
The next morning young Goodman Brown came slowly into the street
of Salem village, staring around him like a bewildered man. The
good old minister was taking a walk along the graveyard to get an
appetite for breakfast and meditate his sermon, and bestowed a
blessing, as he passed, on Goodman Brown. He shrank from the
venerable saint as if to avoid an anathema. Old Deacon Gookin was
Mosses From An Old Manse |
