| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Odyssey by Homer: disposed to thee, then is there good hope that thou mayest
see thy friends, and come to thy high-roofed home and thine
own country.'
{* And for the women she favours, she ends the feuds of
their lords also.}
Therewith grey-eyed Athene departed over the unharvested
seas, and left pleasant Scheria, and came to Marathon and
wide-wayed Athens, and entered the good house of
Erechtheus. Meanwhile Odysseus went to the famous palace of
Alcinous, and his heart was full of many thoughts as he
stood there or ever he had reached the threshold of bronze.
The Odyssey |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Marie by H. Rider Haggard: kraal, with only a young woman as a jailer, and yet utterly unable to
escape to warn them. For round my hut lay a courtyard, and round it
again ran a reed fence about five feet six inches high. Whenever I
looked over this fence, by night or by day, I saw soldiers stationed at
intervals of about fifteen yards. There they stood like statues, their
broad spears in their hands, all looking inwards towards the fence.
There they stood--only at night their number was doubled. Clearly it
was not meant that I should escape.
A week went by thus--believe me, a very terrible week. During that time
my sole companion was the pretty young woman, Naya. We became friends
in a way and talked on a variety of subjects. Only, at the end of our
Marie |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare: breath, and I doe not doubt but to heare them say, it is a
sweet Comedy. No more words: away, go away.
Exeunt.
Actus Quintus.
Enter Theseus, Hippolita, Egeus and his Lords.
Hip. 'Tis strange my Theseus, y these louers speake of
The. More strange then true. I neuer may beleeue
These anticke fables, nor these Fairy toyes,
Louers and mad men haue such seething braines,
Such shaping phantasies, that apprehend more
Then coole reason euer comprehends.
A Midsummer Night's Dream |
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 Merry Men by Robert Louis Stevenson: pause to watch or understand the transformation. He opened the
door and went downstairs very slowly, thinking to himself. His
past went soberly before him; he beheld it as it was, ugly and
strenuous like a dream, random as chance-medley - a scene of
defeat. Life, as he thus reviewed it, tempted him no longer; but
on the further side he perceived a quiet haven for his bark. He
paused in the passage, and looked into the shop, where the candle
still burned by the dead body. It was strangely silent. Thoughts
of the dealer swarmed into his mind, as he stood gazing. And then
the bell once more broke out into impatient clamour.
He confronted the maid upon the threshold with something like a
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