| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Koran: he is of those who err; and disgrace me not on the day when they are
raised up again; the day when wealth shall profit not, nor sons, but
only he who comes to God with a sound heart. And paradise shall be
brought near to the pious; and hell shall be brought forth to those
who go astray, and it shall be said to them, "Where is what ye used to
worship beside God? can they help you, or get help themselves?" And
they shall fall headlong into it, they and those who have gone astray,
and the hosts of Iblis all together!
'They shall say, while they quarrel therein, By God! we were
surely in an obvious error, when we made you equal to the Lord of
the worlds! but it was only sinners who led us astray. But we have
The Koran |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling: hands or their feet to the lower limbs of the next tree.
Sometimes he could see for miles and miles across the still green
jungle, as a man on the top of a mast can see for miles across the
sea, and then the branches and leaves would lash him across the
face, and he and his two guards would be almost down to earth
again. So, bounding and crashing and whooping and yelling, the
whole tribe of Bandar-log swept along the tree-roads with Mowgli
their prisoner.
For a time he was afraid of being dropped. Then he grew angry
but knew better than to struggle, and then he began to think. The
first thing was to send back word to Baloo and Bagheera, for, at
The Jungle Book |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Snow Image by Nathaniel Hawthorne: preferred the insulated bliss of an unshared potation, and became
more taciturn under its influence. Nearly all, in short, evinced
a predilection for the Good Creature in some of its various
shapes, for this is a vice to which, as Fast Day sermons of a
hundred years ago will testify, we have a long hereditary claim.
The only guests to whom Robin's sympathies inclined him were two
or three sheepish countrymen, who were using the inn somewhat
after the fashion of a Turkish caravansary; they had gotten
themselves into the darkest corner of the room, and heedless of
the Nicotian atmosphere, were supping on the bread of their own
ovens, and the bacon cured in their own chimney-smoke. But though
The Snow Image |
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 Lily of the Valley by Honore de Balzac: become a great man expressly that I might be saved from base and
shameful passions? Chastity! was it not a sublime distinction which I
had not know how to keep? Love, as Arabella understood it, suddenly
disgusted me. As I raised my humbled head asking myself where, in
future, I could look for light and hope, what interest could hold me
to life, the air was stirred by a sudden noise. I turned to the
terrace and there saw Madeleine walking alone, with slow steps. During
the time it took me to ascend the terrace, intending to ask the dear
child the reason of the cold look she had given me when kneeling at
the foot of the cross, she had seated herself on the bench. When she
saw me approach her, she rose, pretending not to have seen me, and
The Lily of the Valley |
