| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Underground City by Jules Verne: In the meantime the explorers' situation was bad enough.
They had now, in the midst of black darkness, to follow
the passage leading to the Dochart pit for nearly five miles.
There they would still have an hour's walk before reaching the cottage.
"Come along," said Simon Ford. "We have no time to lose.
We must grope our way along, like blind men. There's no fear
of losing our way. The tunnels which open off our road are
only just like those in a molehill, and by following the chief
gallery we shall of course reach the opening we got in at.
After that, it is the old mine. We know that, and it won't
be the first time that Harry and I have found ourselves there
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Myths and Myth-Makers by John Fiske: children that the stars are angels' eyes, and the English
cottager impresses it on the youthful mind that it is wicked
to point at the stars, though why he cannot tell. But the
Pitris are not stars only, nor do they content themselves with
idly looking down on the affairs of men, after the fashion of
the laissez-faire divinities of Lucretius. They are, on the
contrary, very busy with the weather; they send rain, thunder,
and lightning; and they especially delight in rushing over the
housetops in a great gale of wind, led on by their chief, the
mysterious huntsman, Hermes or Odin.
It has been elsewhere shown that the howling dog, or
Myths and Myth-Makers |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Simple Soul by Gustave Flaubert: Fabu became excited and was about to make trouble.
"Don't you see she is not in her right mind?"
From time to time Felicite spoke to shadows. The women left her and
Mother Simon sat down to breakfast.
A little later, she took Loulou and holding him up to Felicite:
"Say good-bye to him, now!" she commanded.
Although he was not a corpse, he was eaten up by worms; one of his
wings was broken and the wadding was coming out of his body. But
Felicite was blind now, and she took him and laid him against her
cheek. Then Mother Simon removed him in order to set him on the altar.
CHAPTER V
A Simple Soul |
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 Koran: ask me for an answer, and let them believe in me; haply they may be
directed aright.
Lawful for you on the night of the fast is commerce with your wives;
they are a garment unto you, and ye a garment unto them. God knows
that ye did defraud yourselves, wherefore He has turned towards you
and forgiven you; so now go in unto them and crave what God has
prescribed for you, and eat and drink until a white thread can be
distinguished by you from a black one at the dawn. Then fulfil the
fast until the night, and go not in unto them, and ye at your
devotions in the mosques the while. These are the bounds that God
has set, so draw not near thereto. Thus does God make manifest His
The Koran |
