| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Travels of Sir John Mandeville by Sir John Mandeville: two mile from Jericho, is flome Jordan. And, an half mile more
nigh, is a fair church of Saint John the Baptist, where he baptised
our Lord. And there beside is the house of Jeremiah the prophet.
CHAPTER XII
OF THE DEAD SEA; AND OF THE FLOME JORDAN. OF THE HEAD OF SAINT
JOHN THE BAPTIST; AND OF THE USAGES OF THE SAMARITANS
AND from Jericho, a three mile, is the Dead Sea. About that sea
groweth much alum and of alkatran. Between Jericho and that sea is
the land of Engeddi. And there was wont to grow the balm; but men
make draw the branches thereof and bear them to be grafted at
Babylon; and yet men clepe them vines of Geddi. At a coast of that
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Lesser Hippias by Plato: now I cannot agree in what you are saying, but I strongly disagree. Well,
I know that this is my own fault, and is a defect in my character, but I
will not pretend to be more than I am; and my opinion, Hippias, is the very
contrary of what you are saying. For I maintain that those who hurt or
injure mankind, and speak falsely and deceive, and err voluntarily, are
better far than those who do wrong involuntarily. Sometimes, however, I am
of the opposite opinion; for I am all abroad in my ideas about this matter,
a condition obviously occasioned by ignorance. And just now I happen to be
in a crisis of my disorder at which those who err voluntarily appear to me
better than those who err involuntarily. My present state of mind is due
to our previous argument, which inclines me to believe that in general
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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 Foolish Virgin by Thomas Dixon: beyond her strength.
Out of the first stupor of complete surrender, her
senses slowly emerged. She felt the bare boards of the
floor and wondered vaguely why she was there.
The hum of voices again came to her ears. She
lay still and listened. A single terrible sentence she
caught. He spoke it with such malignant power she
could see through the darkness the flames of hell
leaping in his eyes.
"Nobody's going to ask you HOW you got it--all
they want to know is HAVE you got it!"
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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 Menexenus by Plato: in three days; and when he had conquered them, in order that no one might
escape, he searched the whole country after this manner: his soldiers,
coming to the borders of Eretria and spreading from sea to sea, joined
hands and passed through the whole country, in order that they might be
able to tell the king that no one had escaped them. And from Eretria they
went to Marathon with a like intention, expecting to bind the Athenians in
the same yoke of necessity in which they had bound the Eretrians. Having
effected one-half of their purpose, they were in the act of attempting the
other, and none of the Hellenes dared to assist either the Eretrians or the
Athenians, except the Lacedaemonians, and they arrived a day too late for
the battle; but the rest were panic-stricken and kept quiet, too happy in
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