| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe: and a pair of pumps on my feet.
I got on board the ship as before, and prepared a second raft; and,
having had experience of the first, I neither made this so
unwieldy, nor loaded it so hard, but yet I brought away several
things very useful to me; as first, in the carpenters stores I
found two or three bags full of nails and spikes, a great screw-
jack, a dozen or two of hatchets, and, above all, that most useful
thing called a grindstone. All these I secured, together with
several things belonging to the gunner, particularly two or three
iron crows, and two barrels of musket bullets, seven muskets,
another fowling-piece, with some small quantity of powder more; a
Robinson Crusoe |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from 1984 by George Orwell: religion, or ethics, or politics, two and two might make five, but when
one was designing a gun or an aeroplane they had to make four. Inefficient
nations were always conquered sooner or later, and the struggle for
efficiency was inimical to illusions. Moreover, to be efficient it was
necessary to be able to learn from the past, which meant having a fairly
accurate idea of what had happened in the past. Newspapers and history
books were, of course, always coloured and biased, but falsification of
the kind that is practised today would have been impossible. War was a
sure safeguard of sanity, and so far as the ruling classes were concerned
it was probably the most important of all safeguards. While wars could be
won or lost, no ruling class could be completely irresponsible.
1984 |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Love and Friendship by Jane Austen: help wishing all dinner-time that I had been at the dressing
it--. A brother of Mrs Marlowe, Mr Cleveland is with them at
present; he is a good-looking young Man, and seems to have a good
deal to say for himself. I tell Eloisa that she should set her
cap at him, but she does not at all seem to relish the proposal.
I should like to see the girl married and Cleveland has a very
good estate. Perhaps you may wonder that I do not consider
myself as well as my Sister in my matrimonial Projects; but to
tell you the truth I never wish to act a more principal part at a
Wedding than the superintending and directing the Dinner, and
therefore while I can get any of my acquaintance to marry for me,
Love and Friendship |
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 Gobseck by Honore de Balzac: imagine that I will not keep my word with him?'
" 'I had the honor of telling you yesterday,' said he, 'that I had
fallen out with Daddy Gobseck most inopportunely; and as there is
scarcely another man in Paris who can come down on the nail with a
hundred thousand francs, at the end of the month, I begged of you to
make my peace with him. But let us say no more about it----'
"M. de Trailles looked at me with civil insult in his expression, and
made as if he would take his leave.
" 'I am ready to go with you,' said I.
"When we reached the Rue de Gres, my dandy looked about him with a
circumspection and uneasiness that set me wondering. His face grew
Gobseck |
