Beyond the four basic elements (air, water, earth and fire), there is the final matter of a person’s Soul, or spirit. Spirit (or aether) is the center and circumference, throughout and about. It's change and transformation. It is a combination and balance of all elements, and is none of them. Spirit is the unifying force that animates all the other elements. Aristotle used the term in reference to the celestial element and taught that this fifth element was, unlike fire, air, water and earth, perfect and unchanging. Pythagoras characterized the fifth element or essence, called by alchemists alike the quinta essentia, as more subtle and pure than fire, possessing a circular motion, and accredited to it the formation of the stars. Pythagoras held that there was one Universal Soul permeating all things, which in substance resembled light. Over time and imagination, the representation of aether has evolved to contain only the spirit, but also the ethereal, particularly the astral plane or teleportation of the soul. It is in this respect that the album. Strange Little Girls embodies the element of the Spirit in that each of the songs are represented by the spirits of the women in them. "The 12 songs are told through the eyes of 13 women (one song features twins), each of whom has her own story to tell. Each woman approached me and said, ‘I have a point of view on this song, that you may want to know, that may change how you hear its meaning'." "That’s the trade-off that happens in mythology. That’s how the land of myth works. It’s a sort of strange and mysterious world. These women [characters] were hitting me from all sides. They would just come in and take over." Tori explainations on how the album came about and the interpretations of the original songs translated anew in the voice of a woman points back to the teleportation of the soul or spirit-bond that occured with each of the characters in Tori's mind. Songs with a Spirit affinity: Suede "peekaboo hiding underneath your skin jets are revving yes revving from an ether twist call me evil call me tide is on your side anything that you want" om la boomleigh "I know a little boy with each day now I’m tasting the snow beneath my soul beneath the souls of my souls with each day now you’re in me now said..." Concertina "the soul quake happened here in a glass world particle by particle she slowly changes " Liquid Diamonds "calling for my soul at the corners of the world, I know she’s playing poker with the rest of the stragglers" Butterfly "stinky soul, get a little lost in my own" Ireland "...and then a Jesuit proceeded to arrange your soul while I prayed on my knees..." Pancake "...Segregate the mind From Body From Soul..." Pancake "...In the end all we have, soul blueprint..." Virginia "...But as always The thing that he Loves he will change from her sunrise to clockwise to soul trading..." Little Amsterdam "I go round and around this time for keeps Father only you can save my soul and playing that organ must count for something..." Spark "trusting my soul to the ice cream assassin" Floating City "long ago so assured that we’re advanced with what we know that our spirit never had time to grow..." Rubies and Gold "anyway just to say I held their heart in my arms there's strength in my soul, Rubies and Gold are you to me..." Ode To The Banana King, Part I "we all have been Violent and delicious souls..." Images with a Spirit affinity:       < BACK