| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Catriona by Robert Louis Stevenson: she stepped upon the deck, smiling, and making my best bow, which was
now vastly finer than some months before, when first I made it to her
ladyship. No doubt we were both a good deal changed: she seemed to
have shot up like a young, comely tree. She had now a kind of pretty
backwardness that became her well as of one that regarded herself more
highly and was fairly woman; and for another thing, the hand of the
same magician had been at work upon the pair of us, and Miss Grant had
made us both BRAW, if she could make but the one BONNY.
The same cry, in words not very different, came from both of us, that
the other was come in compliment to say farewell, and then we perceived
in a flash we were to ship together.
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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 Mirror of the Sea by Joseph Conrad: Open to all and faithful to none, it exercises its fascination for
the undoing of the best. To love it is not well. It knows no bond
of plighted troth, no fidelity to misfortune, to long
companionship, to long devotion. The promise it holds out
perpetually is very great; but the only secret of its possession is
strength, strength - the jealous, sleepless strength of a man
guarding a coveted treasure within his gates.
XXXVII.
The cradle of oversea traffic and of the art of naval combats, the
Mediterranean, apart from all the associations of adventure and
glory, the common heritage of all mankind, makes a tender appeal to
The Mirror of the Sea |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Euthydemus by Plato: manfully pursues and works out anything which is at all like wisdom: at
the same time we shall do well to see them as they really are.
CRITO: I have often told you, Socrates, that I am in a constant difficulty
about my two sons. What am I to do with them? There is no hurry about the
younger one, who is only a child; but the other, Critobulus, is getting on,
and needs some one who will improve him. I cannot help thinking, when I
hear you talk, that there is a sort of madness in many of our anxieties
about our children:--in the first place, about marrying a wife of good
family to be the mother of them, and then about heaping up money for them--
and yet taking no care about their education. But then again, when I
contemplate any of those who pretend to educate others, I am amazed. To
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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 King James Bible: skin.
PSA 102:6 I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of
the desert.
PSA 102:7 I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top.
PSA 102:8 Mine enemies reproach me all the day; and they that are mad
against me are sworn against me.
PSA 102:9 For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with
weeping.
PSA 102:10 Because of thine indignation and thy wrath: for thou hast
lifted me up, and cast me down.
PSA 102:11 My days are like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered
King James Bible |
