| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Black Dwarf by Walter Scott: formed a patch of garden-ground. It must be naturally supposed,
that, as above hinted, this solitary being received assistance
occasionally from such travellers as crossed the moor by chance,
as well as from several who went from curiosity to visit his
works. It was, indeed, impossible to see a human creature, so
unfitted, at first sight, for hard labour, toiling with such
unremitting assiduity, without stopping a few minutes to aid him
in his task; and, as no one of his occasional assistants was
acquainted with the degree of help which the Dwarf had received
from others, the celerity of his progress lost none of its
marvels in their eyes. The strong and compact appearance of the
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Master and Man by Leo Tolstoy: farther, but Vasili Andreevich, in his two fur coats, was so
out of breath that he could not walk farther and dropped into
the sledge.
'Let me get my breath!' he said, unfastening the kerchief with
which he had tied the collar of his fur coat at the village.
'It's all right here. You lie there,' said Nikita. 'I will
lead him along.' And with Vasili Andreevich in the sledge he
led the horse by the bridle about ten paces down and then up a
slight rise, and stopped.
The place where Nikita had stopped was not completely in the
hollow where the snow sweeping down from the hillocks might
Master and Man |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Glimpses of the Moon by Edith Wharton: queried, from the divan where he lolled half-asleep with
dripping brow. Fred Gillow, like Nature, abhorred a void, and
it was inconceivable to him that every hour of man's rational
existence should not furnish a motive for getting up and going
somewhere else. Young Breckenridge, who took the same view, and
the Prince, who earnestly desired to, reminded the company that
somebody they knew was giving a dance that night at the Lido.
Strefford vetoed the Lido, on the ground that he'd just come
back from there, and proposed that they should go out on foot
for a change.
"Why not? What fun!" Susy was up in an instant. "Let's pay
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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 Euthyphro by Plato: and is not this the same as what is dear to them--do you see?
EUTHYPHRO: True.
SOCRATES: Then either we were wrong in our former assertion; or, if we
were right then, we are wrong now.
EUTHYPHRO: One of the two must be true.
SOCRATES: Then we must begin again and ask, What is piety? That is an
enquiry which I shall never be weary of pursuing as far as in me lies; and
I entreat you not to scorn me, but to apply your mind to the utmost, and
tell me the truth. For, if any man knows, you are he; and therefore I must
detain you, like Proteus, until you tell. If you had not certainly known
the nature of piety and impiety, I am confident that you would never, on
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