| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Koran: them one noise, and they were like the dry sticks of him who builds
a fold.
We have made the Koran easy as a reminder but is there any one who
will mind?
Lot's people called the apostles liars; verily, we sent against them
a heavy sand storm; all, save Lot's family, we saved them at the dawn.
As a favour from us; so do we reward him who gives thanks!
He indeed had warned them of our assault, but they doubted of the
warning.
And they desired his guest, and we put out their eyes.-
So taste ye my torment and warning!'
The Koran |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death by Patrick Henry: petition comports with those warlike preparations which cover our waters and
darken our land. Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and
reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled that
force must be called in to win back our love? Let us not deceive ourselves,
sir. These are the implements of war and subjugation; the last arguments to
which kings resort. I ask gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if
its purpose be not to force us to submission? Can gentlemen assign any other
possible motive for it? Has Great Britain any enemy, in this quarter of
the world, to call for all this accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir,
she has none. They are meant for us: they can be meant for no other.
They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us those chains which the British
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Man in Lower Ten by Mary Roberts Rinehart: Being so near her, under the same roof, with even the tie of a
dubious secret between us, was making me heady. I pushed Forbes
toward the door.
"I interested!" I retorted, holding him by the shoulders. "There
isn't a word in your vocabulary to fit my condition. I am an
island in a sunlit sea of emotion, Sam, a - an empty place surrounded
by longing - a - "
"An empty place surrounded by longing!" he retorted. "You want your
dinner, that's what's the matter with you - "
I shut the door on him then. He seemed suddenly sordid. Dinner, I
thought! Although, as matter of fact, I made a very fair meal when,
The Man in Lower Ten |
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 Brother of Daphne by Dornford Yates: "You shouldn't be so tiresome," said Daphne. Berry shook his
head sorrowfully.
"Listen," he said. "The noise you hear is not the bath running
away. No, no. My heart is bleeding, sister."
"Better sear that, too," said his wife, reaching for Jonah's
cigarette.
It was just then that my eyes, wandering round the library,
lighted on a copy of "Don Quixote." "The very thing," said I
suddenly.
"What?" said Jill.
"Berry can go as Sancho Panza."
The Brother of Daphne |
