| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Heroes by Charles Kingsley: ruled it well.
For he killed the bull of Marathon, which had killed
Androgeos, Minos' son; and he drove back the famous Amazons,
the warlike women of the East, when they came from Asia, and
conquered all Hellas, and broke into Athens itself. But
Theseus stopped them there, and conquered them, and took
Hippolute their queen to be his wife. Then he went out to
fight against the Lapithai, and Peirithoos their famous king:
but when the two heroes came face to face they loved each
other, and embraced, and became noble friends; so that the
friendship of Theseus and Peirithoos is a proverb even now.
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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 Large Catechism by Dr. Martin Luther: upon the wheel, but from disobedience [to parents], because they will
not submit to discipline in kindness, so that, by the punishment of
God, they bring it about that we behold their misfortune and grief? For
it seldom happens that such perverse people die a natural or timely
death.
But the godly and obedient have this blessing, that they live long in
pleasant quietness and see their children's children (as said above) to
the third and fourth generation. Thus experience also teaches, that
where there are honorable, old families who fare well and have many
children, they owe their origin to the fact, to be sure, that some of
them were brought up well and were regardful of their parents. On the
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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 Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table by Oliver Wendell Holmes: persons in easy circumstances suffer much more cold in summer -
that is, the warm half of the year - than in winter, or the other
half. You must cut your climate to your constitution, as much as
your clothing to your shape. After this, consult your taste and
convenient. But if you would be happy in Berkshire, you must carry
mountains in your brain; and if you would enjoy Nahant, you must
have an ocean in your soul. Nature plays at dominos with you; you
must match her piece, or she will never give it up to you.
- The schoolmistress said, in a rather mischievous way, that she
was afraid some minds or souls would be a little crowded, if they
took in the Rocky Mountains or the Atlantic.
The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table |
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 Caesar's Commentaries in Latin by Julius Caesar: Oceani tantosque impetus ventorum sustineri ac tanta onera navium regi
velis non satis commode posse arbitrabantur. Cum his navibus nostrae
classi eius modi congressus erat ut una celeritate et pulsu remorum
praestaret, reliqua pro loci natura, pro vi tempestatum illis essent
aptiora et accommodatiora. Neque enim iis nostrae rostro nocere poterant
(tanta in iis erat firmitudo), neque propter altitudinem facile telum
adigebatur, et eadem de causa minus commode copulis continebautur.
Accedebat ut, cum [saevire ventus coepisset et] se vento dedissent, et
tempestatem ferrent facilius et in vadis consisterent tutius et ab aestu
relictae nihil saxa et cotes timerent; quarum rerum omnium nostris navibus
casus erat extimescendus.
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