| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from An Episode Under the Terror by Honore de Balzac: stranger, who had brought an element of excitement into lives of
misery and resignation, gazed at the little group; then he turned to
the priest and said, as if making a confidence, "Father, I came to beg
you to celebrate a mass for the repose of the soul of--of--of an
august personage whose body will never rest in consecrated earth----"
Involuntarily the abbe shivered. As yet, neither of the Sisters
understood of whom the stranger was speaking; they sat with their
heads stretched out and faces turned towards the speaker, curiosity in
their whole attitude. The priest meanwhile, was scrutinizing the
stranger; there was no mistaking the anxiety in the man's face, the
ardent entreaty in his eyes.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Confessio Amantis by John Gower: And what thing he fint in his weie,
Whan that he seth the men aweie,
He stelth it and goth forth withal,
That therof noman knowe schal.
And ek fulofte he goth a nyht
Withoute Mone or sterreliht,
And with his craft the dore unpiketh,
And takth therinne what him liketh: 6510
And if the dore be so schet,
That he be of his entre let,
He wole in ate wyndou crepe,
Confessio Amantis |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf: of them, are frail things. One drifts apart. He reproached himself
again. He was sitting beside Mrs Ramsay and he had nothing in the
world to say to her.
"I'm so sorry," said Mrs Ramsy, turning to him at last. He felt rigid
and barren, like a pair of boots that have been soaked and gone dry so
that you can hardly force your feet into them. Yet he must force his
feet into them. He must make himself talk. Unless he were very
careful, she would find out this treachery of his; that he did not care
a straw for her, and that would not be at all pleasant, he thought. So
he bent his head courteously in her direction.
"How you must detest dining in this bear garden," she said, making use,
To the Lighthouse |
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 The Ancient Regime by Charles Kingsley: a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.
An eternal heritage, I say, for the human race; which once gained,
can never be lost; which stands, and will stand; marches, and will
march, proving its growth, its health, its progressive force, its
certainty of final victory, by those very changes, disputes,
mistakes, which the ignorant and the bigoted hold up to scorn, as
proofs of its uncertainty and its rottenness; because they never
have dared or cared to ask boldly--What are the facts of the case?--
and have never discovered either the acuteness, the patience, the
calm justice, necessary for ascertaining the facts, or their awful
and divine certainty when once ascertained.
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