| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle: in the dead of the night?'
"'Never,' said I.
"'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in
your sleep?'
"'Certainly not. But why?'
"'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three
in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper,
and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from perhaps
from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would
just ask you whether you had heard it.'
"'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gypsies in the
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Child of Storm by H. Rider Haggard: When we had concluded our rather nefarious negotiations, which were to
the effect that I was to receive so many cattle in return for so many
guns, if I could deliver them at a certain spot, namely, Umbezi's kraal,
I returned to the circle where Umbezi, his followers and guests were
sitting, purposing to bid him farewell. By now, however, meat had been
served, and as I was hungry, having had little breakfast that morning, I
stayed to eat. When I had finished my meal, and washed it down with a
draught of tshwala (that is, Kafir beer), I rose to go, but just at that
moment who should walk through the gate but Saduko?
"Piff!" said Mameena, who was standing near me, speaking in a voice that
none but I could hear. "When two bucks meet, what happens, Macumazahn?"
Child of Storm |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from On Revenues by Xenophon: Ephorus. Cf. Strab. ix. 2, p. 400.
Once more, this land though not literally sea-girt has all the
advantages of an island, being accessible to every wind that blows,
and can invite to its bosom or waft from its shore all products, since
it is peninsular; whilst by land it is the emporium of many markets,
as being a portion of the continent.
Lastly, while the majority of states have barbarian neighbours, the
source of many troubles, Athens has as her next-door neighbours
civilised states which are themselves far remote from the barbarians.
II
All these advantages, to repeat what I have said, may, I believe, be
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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 Dreams by Olive Schreiner: tips.
Then we came out upon a lonely mountain-top.
No living being moved there; but far off on a solitary peak I saw a lonely
figure standing. Whether it were man or woman I could not tell; for partly
it seemed the figure of a woman, but its limbs were the mighty limbs of a
man. I asked God whether it was man or woman.
God said, "In the least Heaven sex reigns supreme; in the higher it is not
noticed; but in the highest it does not exist."
And I saw the figure bend over its work, and labour mightily, but what it
laboured at I could not see.
I said to God, "How came it here?"
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