| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Youth by Joseph Conrad: punching and kicking I started one of my men into a
state of somnambulism, and giving him an oar, took
another and pulled towards the lights of the steamer.
"There was a murmur of voices in her, metallic hollow
clangs of the engine-room, footsteps on the deck. Her
ports shone, round like dilated eyes. Shapes moved
about, and there was a shadowy man high up on the
bridge. He heard my oars.
"And then, before I could open my lips, the East spoke
to me, but it was in a Western voice. A torrent of words
was poured into the enigmatical, the fateful silence;
Youth |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy: certainly not have caused him to expect that honor. The prince, who
generally kept very strictly to social distinctions and rarely
admitted even important government officials to his table, had
unexpectedly selected Michael Ivanovich (who always went into a corner
to blow his nose on his checked handkerchief) to illustrate the theory
that all men are equals, and had more than once impressed on his
daughter that Michael Ivanovich was "not a whit worse than you or
I." At dinner the prince usually spoke to the taciturn Michael
Ivanovich more often than to anyone else.
In the dining room, which like all the rooms in the house was
exceedingly lofty, the members of the household and the footmen- one
War and Peace |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe: and when he gave me the answer, gave me the shilling again.
'There,' says he, 'there's your shilling again too, for I delivered
the letter myself.' I could not tell what to say, I was so surprised
at the thing; but after some pause, I said, 'Sir, you are too kind;
it had been but reasonable that you had paid yourself coach-hire,
then.'
'No, no,' says he, 'I am overpaid. What is the gentlewoman?
Your sister.'
'No, sir,' says I, 'she is no relation to me, but she is a dear
friend, and all the friends I have in the world.' 'Well,' says
he, 'there are few such friends in the world. Why, she cried
Moll Flanders |
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 Underground City by Jules Verne: "Now for the fire-damp! Here comes the fire-damp!" yelled the old man,
urging his canoe further along the lake.
Harry with his bride, his father and his mother, left the chapel
in haste and in terror.
"Fly! fly for your lives!" repeated James Starr. Alas! it was
too late to fly! Old Silfax stood there, prepared to fulfill
his last dreadful threat--prepared to stop the marriage of Nell
and Harry by overwhelming the entire population of the place
beneath the ruins of the coal mine.
As he stood ready to accomplish this act of vengeance, his enormous owl,
whose white plumage was marked with black spots, was seen hovering
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