| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Golden Threshold by Sarojini Naidu: Etruria, two thousand years ago. Did I say dead? No, for the
gods are immortal, and one might still find them loitering in
some solitary dell on the grey hillsides of Fiesole. Have I seen
them? Yes, looking with dreaming eyes, I have found them sitting
under the olives, in their grave, strong, antique
beauty--Etruscan gods!"
In Italy she watches the faces of the monks, and at one moment
longs to attain to their peace by renunciation, longs for
Nirvana; "then, when one comes out again into the hot sunshine
that warms one's blood, and sees the eager hurrying faces of men
and women in the street, dramatic faces over which the disturbing
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Prince Otto by Robert Louis Stevenson: 'Colonel,' said Otto, 'we have a jovial entertainer. I drink to
Colonel Gordon.'
Thereupon all three took their wine very pleasantly; and even as
they did so, the carriage with a lurch turned into the high-road and
began to make better speed.
All was bright within; the wine had coloured Gotthold's cheek; dim
forms of forest trees, dwindling and spiring, scarves of the starry
sky, now wide and now narrow, raced past the windows, through one
that was left open the air of the woods came in with a nocturnal
raciness; and the roll of wheels and the tune of the trotting horses
sounded merrily on the ear. Toast followed toast; glass after glass
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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 Little Rivers by Henry van Dyke: walking down the stream with a Belgian Baron and encouraging him to
continue fishing, climbed out to me on the end of a long
embankment, and with proper apologies begged to be favoured with a
view of my document. It turned out that his request was a favour
to me, for it discovered the fact that I had left my fly-book, with
the pink card in it, beside an old mill, a quarter of a mile up the
stream.
Another time I was sitting beside the road, trying to get out of a
very long, wet, awkward pair of wading-stockings, an occupation
which is unfavourable to tranquillity of mind, when a man came up
to me in the dusk and accosted me with an absence of politeness
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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 An International Episode by Henry James: the wharf and that his commercial associate desired him instantly to come
and give his attention to certain telegrams received from St. Louis.
But the two Englishmen, with nothing but their national prestige and
personal graces to recommend them, were very well received at the hotel,
which had an air of capacious hospitality. They found that a bath was
not unattainable, and were indeed struck with the facilities for prolonged
and reiterated immersion with which their apartment was supplied.
After bathing a good deal--more, indeed, than they had ever done before on
a single occasion--they made their way into the dining room of the hotel,
which was a spacious restaurant, with a fountain in the middle, a great
many tall plants in ornamental tubs, and an array of French waiters.
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