| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy: whirring in rapid flight and alighting on the ground, a shell
dropped with little noise within two steps of Prince Andrew and
close to the battalion commander's horse. The horse first,
regardless of whether it was right or wrong to show fear, snorted,
reared almost throwing the major, and galloped aside. The horse's
terror infected the men.
"Lie down!" cried the adjutant, throwing himself flat on the ground.
Prince Andrew hesitated. The smoking shell spun like a top between
him and the prostrate adjutant, near a wormwood plant between the
field and the meadow.
"Can this be death?" thought Prince Andrew, looking with a quite
War and Peace |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe: than sufficient for myself, yet it was not sufficient, without good
husbandry, for my family, now it was increased to four; but much
less would it be sufficient if his countrymen, who were, as he
said, sixteen, still alive, should come over; and least of all
would it be sufficient to victual our vessel, if we should build
one, for a voyage to any of the Christian colonies of America; so
he told me he thought it would be more advisable to let him and the
other two dig and cultivate some more land, as much as I could
spare seed to sow, and that we should wait another harvest, that we
might have a supply of corn for his countrymen, when they should
come; for want might be a temptation to them to disagree, or not to
Robinson Crusoe |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Sylvie and Bruno by Lewis Carroll: in that mysterious Palace, and very seldom succeeded in finding the old
ones again.
Near the end of the passage the Professor stopped. "This is his room,"
he said, pointing to the solid wall.
"We ca'n't get in through there!" Bruno exclaimed.
Sylvie said nothing, till she had carefully examined whether the wall
opened anywhere. Then she laughed merrily. "You're playing us a
trick, you dear old thing!" she said. "There's no door here!"
"There isn't any door to the room," said the Professor.
"We shall have to climb in at the window."
So we went into the garden, and soon found the window of the Other
Sylvie and Bruno |
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 Caesar's Commentaries in Latin by Julius Caesar: castris relictis ut, si quo opus esset, subsidio duci possent, reliquas VI
legiones pro castris in acie constituit. Hostes item suas copias ex
castris eductas instruxerunt.
Palus erat non magna inter nostrum atque hostium exercitum. Hanc si
nostri transirent hostes expectabant; nostri autem, si ab illis initium
transeundi fieret, ut impeditos adgrederentur parati in armis erant.
Interim proelio equestri inter duas acies contendebatur. Ubi neutri
transeundi initium faciunt, secundiore equitum proelio nostris Caesar suos
in castra reduxit. Hostes protinus ex eo loco ad flumen Axonam
contenderunt, quod esse post nostra castra demonstratum est. Ibi vadis
repertis partem suarum copiarum traducere conati sunt eo consilio ut, si
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