| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Tanglewood Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne: the immense head and half the scaly body of the dragon was
thrust forth (for he was twisted round the trunk of the tree on
which the Fleece hung), and seizing the poor antelope,
swallowed him with one snap of his jaws.
After this feat, the dragon seemed sensible that some other
living creature was within reach, on which he felt inclined to
finish his meal. In various directions he kept poking his ugly
snout among the trees, stretching out his neck a terrible long
way, now here, now there, and now close to the spot where Jason
and the princess were hiding behind an oak. Upon my word, as
the head came waving and undulating through the air, and
Tanglewood Tales |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Agesilaus by Xenophon: the first woman who won a prize at Olympia. See also Plut. "Ages."
xx. (Clough, iv. p. 23).
X
It is as possessiong qualities such as these that I praise Agesilaus.
And in these matters he was not like a man who chances upon a treasure
and thereby becomes wealthier, albeit none the more skilful in
economy; nor yet like him who, when a plague has fallen upon an enemy,
wrests a victory, whereby he may add to his reputation for success,
but not for strategy. Rather was his example that of one who in each
emergency will take the lead; at a crisis where toil is needful, by
endurance; or in the battle-lists of bravery by prowess; or when the
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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 The Psychology of Revolution by Gustave le Bon: deputies deliberated amid the hootings and vociferations of the
tribunes. At every moment veritable savages, armed with pikes,
invaded the Assembly, and the majority of the members no longer
dared to attend the sessions. When by chance they did go it was
only to vote in silence according to the orders of the Mountain,
which was only a third as numerous.
The fear which dominated the latter, although less visible, was
just as profound. Men destroyed their enemies, not only because
they were shallow fanatics, but because they were convinced that
their own existence was threatened. The judges of the
revolutionary Tribunals trembled no less. They would have
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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 In the Cage by Henry James: him; but she would have spoken the truth to herself had she at the
same moment declared that she didn't in the least care: all the
more that the effect must be one of extreme perplexity. What, in
it all, was visibly clear for him, none the less, was that he was
tremendously glad he had met her. She held him, and he was
astonished at the force of it; he was intent, immensely
considerate. His elbow was on the back of the seat, and his head,
with the pot-hat pushed quite back, in a boyish way, so that she
really saw almost for the first time his forehead and hair, rested
on the hand into which he had crumpled his gloves. "Yes," he
assented, "it's not a bit horrid or vulgar."
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