| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Travels of Sir John Mandeville by Sir John Mandeville: that was king of heaven, of air, of earth, of sea and of all things
that be contained in them, would all only be clept king of that
land, when he said, REX SUM JUDEORUM, that is to say, 'I am King of
Jews'; and that land he chose before all other lands, as the best
and most worthy land, and the most virtuous land of all the world:
for it is the heart and the midst of all the world, witnessing the
philosopher, that saith thus, VIRTUS RERUM IN MEDIO CONSISTIT, that
is to say, 'The virtue of things is in the midst'; and in that land
he would lead his life, and suffer passion and death of Jews, for
us, to buy and to deliver us from pains of hell, and from death
without end; the which was ordained for us, for the sin of our
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Call of the Wild by Jack London: champion, the dominant primordial beast who had made his kill and
found it good.
Chapter IV
Who Has Won to Mastership
"Eh? Wot I say? I spik true w'en I say dat Buck two devils."
This was Francois's speech next morning when he discovered Spitz
missing and Buck covered with wounds. He drew him to the fire and
by its light pointed them out.
"Dat Spitz fight lak hell," said Perrault, as he surveyed the
gaping rips and cuts.
"An' dat Buck fight lak two hells," was Francois's answer. "An'
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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 The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table by Oliver Wendell Holmes: Professor pretends that he found such a one in Charles Street,
which, in its dare-devil impudence of rough-and-tumble vegetation,
beat the pretty-behaved flower-beds of the Public Garden as
ignominiously as a group of young tatterdemalions playing pitch-
and-toss beats a row of Sunday-school-boys with their teacher at
their head.
But then the Professor has one of his burrows in that region, and
puts everything in high colors relating to it. That is his way
about everything. I hold any man cheap, - he said, - of whom
nothing stronger can be uttered than that all his geese are swans.
- How is that, Professor? - said I; - I should have set you down
The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table |
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 Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens: thought we were going to do them any harm, he'd be no friend to our
side, but would lend a ready hand to the other. So I've persuaded
him (for I know him of old) that Lord George has picked him out to
guard this place to-morrow while we're away, and that it's a great
honour--and so he's on duty now, and as proud of it as if he was a
general. Ha ha! What do you say to me for a careful man as well
as a devil of a one?'
Mr Dennis exhausted himself in compliments, and then added,
'But about the expedition itself--'
'About that,' said Hugh, 'you shall hear all particulars from me
and the great captain conjointly and both together--for see, he's
Barnaby Rudge |
