| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Large Catechism by Dr. Martin Luther: early provided for [married], so that the virgin state was held in
small esteem, neither were public prostitution and lewdness tolerated
(as now). Therefore adultery was the most common form of unchastity
among them.
But because among us there is such a shameful mess and the very dregs
of all vice and lewdness, this commandment is directed also against all
manner of unchastity, whatever it may be called; and not only is the
external act forbidden, but also every kind of cause, incitement, and
means, so that the heart, the lips, and the whole body may be chaste
and afford no opportunity, help, or persuasion to unchastity. And not
only this, but that we also make resistance, afford protection and
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from An International Episode by Henry James: over with a strange, voluminous integument of coarse blue gauze;
and where several little boys and girls, who had risen late,
were seated in fastidious solitude at the morning repast.
These young persons had not the morning paper before them,
but they were engaged in languid perusal of the bill of fare.
This latter document was a great puzzle to our friends, who, on reflecting
that its bewildering categories had relation to breakfast alone,
had an uneasy prevision of an encyclopedic dinner list.
They found a great deal of entertainment at the hotel, an enormous
wooden structure, for the erection of which it seemed to them that
the virgin forests of the West must have been terribly deflowered.
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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 Walking by Henry David Thoreau: mind, and the intimations that star it as much brighter. For I
believe that climate does thus react on man--as there is
something in the mountain air that feeds the spirit and inspires.
Will not man grow to greater perfection intellectually as well as
physically under these influences? Or is it unimportant how many
foggy days there are in his life? I trust that we shall be more
imaginative, that our thoughts will be clearer, fresher, and more
ethereal, as our sky--our understanding more comprehensive and
broader, like our plains--our intellect generally on a grander
seale, like our thunder and lightning, our rivers and mountains
and forests-and our hearts shall even correspond in breadth and
Walking |
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 Gods of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: At length, all but a score, who had apparently been left to
prevent our escape, had left us, and our adventure seemed
destined to result in a siege, the only outcome of which could
be our death by starvation; for even should we be able to slip
out after dark, whither in this unknown and hostile valley
could we hope to turn our steps toward possible escape?
As the attacks of our enemies ceased and our eyes became
accustomed to the semi-darkness of the interior of our strange
retreat, I took the opportunity to explore our shelter.
The tree was hollow to an extent of about fifty feet in
diameter, and from its flat, hard floor I judged that it had
The Gods of Mars |
