| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Voyage to Abyssinia by Father Lobo: after noon the sky is clouded, and immediately succeeds a violent
storm, with thunder and lightning flashing in the most dreadful
manner. While this lasts, which is commonly three or four hours,
none go out of doors. The ploughman upon the first appearance of it
unyokes his oxen, and betakes himself with them into covert.
Travellers provide for their security in the neighbouring villages,
or set up their tents, everybody flies to some shelter, as well to
avoid the unwholesomeness as the violence of the rain. The thunder
is astonishing, and the lightning often destroys great numbers, a
thing I can speak of from my own experience, for it once flashed so
near me, that I felt an uneasiness on that side for a long time
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Adam Bede by George Eliot: as I'd done it, before I began to think he might be dead."
In this way it happened that Arthur and Adam were walking towards
the same spot at the same time.
Adam had on his working-dress again, now, for he had thrown off
the other with a sense of relief as soon as he came home; and if
he had had the basket of tools over his shoulder, he might have
been taken, with his pale wasted face, for the spectre of the Adam
Bede who entered the Grove on that August evening eight months
ago. But he had no basket of tools, and he was not walking with
the old erectness, looking keenly round him; his hands were thrust
in his side pockets, and his eyes rested chiefly on the ground.
Adam Bede |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Village Rector by Honore de Balzac: with the three different men I was chained to; they all feared me but
liked me. One reason was, my name was known and famous at the galleys
before I got there. A /chauffeur/! they thought me one of those
brigands. I have seen /chauffing/," continued Farrabesche after a
pause, in a low voice, "but I never either did it myself, or took any
of the money obtained by it. I was a refractory, I evaded the
conscription, that was all. I helped my comrades, I kept watch; I was
sentinel and brought up the rear-guard; but I never shed any man's
blood except in self-defence. Ah! I told all to Monsieur Bonnet and my
lawyer, and the judges knew well enough that I was no murderer. But,
all the same, I am a great criminal; nothing that I ever did was
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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 Peter Pan by James M. Barrie: that there are other ways.
Certainly they did not pretend to be sleepy, they were sleepy;
and that was a danger, for the moment they popped off, down they
fell. The awful thing was that Peter thought this funny.
"There he goes again!" he would cry gleefully, as Michael
suddenly dropped like a stone.
"Save him, save him!" cried Wendy, looking with horror at the
cruel sea far below. Eventually Peter would dive through the air,
and catch Michael just before he could strike the sea, and it was
lovely the way he did it; but he always waited till the last
moment, and you felt it was his cleverness that interested him
Peter Pan |
