| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Common Sense by Thomas Paine: the compass of description, will be words of sound only,
and though they may amuse the ear, they cannot inform the mind,
for this explanation includes a previous question, viz.
HOW CAME THE KING BY A POWER WHICH THE PEOPLE ARE AFRAID TO TRUST,
AND ALWAYS OBLIGED TO CHECK? Such a power could not be the gift
of a wise people, neither can any power, WHICH NEEDS CHECKING,
be from God; yet the provision, which the constitution makes,
supposes such a power to exist.
But the provision is unequal to the task; the means either cannot
or will not accomplish the end, and the whole affair is a felo de se;
for as the greater weight will always carry up the less, and as all
Common Sense |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Father Sergius by Leo Tolstoy: 'You will be well,' said he. 'Pray!'
'What is the use of praying? I have prayed and it does no
good'--and she continued to smile. 'I want you to pray for me
and lay your hands on me. I saw you in a dream.'
'How did you see me?'
'I saw you put your hands on my breast like that.' She took his
hand and pressed it to her breast. 'Just here.'
He yielded his right hand to her.
'What is your name?' he asked, trembling all over and feeling
that he was overcome and that his desire had already passed
beyond control.
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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 Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy: latent, quickened into life by his buffetings.
Farfrae, happy, and thinking no evil, persisted in making
light of her fears. Thus they parted, and she went
homeward, journeymen now being in the street, waggoners
going to the harness-makers for articles left to be
repaired, farm-horses going to the shoeing-smiths, and the
sons of labour showing themselves generally on the move.
Elizabeth entered her lodging unhappily, thinking she had
done no good, and only made herself appear foolish by her
weak note of warning.
But Donald Farfrae was one of those men upon whom an
The Mayor of Casterbridge |
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 Salammbo by Gustave Flaubert: huts of planks; the Libyans cabins of dry stones, while the Negroes
with their nails hollowed out trenches in the sand to sleep in. Many,
not knowing where to go, wandered about among the baggage, and at
nightfall lay down in their ragged mantles on the ground.
The plain, which was wholly bounded by mountains, expanded around
them. Here and there a palm tree leaned over a sand hill, and pines
and oaks flecked the sides of the precipices: sometimes the rain of a
storm would hang from the sky like a long scarf, while the country
everywhere was still covered with azure and serenity; then a warm wind
would drive before it tornadoes of dust, and a stream would descend in
cascades from the heights of Sicca, where, with its roofing of gold on
Salammbo |
