| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Damnation of Theron Ware by Harold Frederic: nobody but himself, and might much better have stopped
away altogether."
Theron nodded his head comprehendingly. He had a great
many views about the Romanish rite of confession which did
not at all square with this statement of the case, but this
did not seem a specially fit time for bringing them forth.
There was indeed a sense of languid repletion in his mind,
as if it had been overfed and wanted to lie down for awhile.
He contented himself with nodding again, and murmuring
reflectively, "Yes, it is all strangely different."
His tone was an invitation to silence; and the doctor turned
The Damnation of Theron Ware |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Nada the Lily by H. Rider Haggard: reason she had called a feast of women, and taken the children with
her; for this reason so many had been summoned from the kraal by one
means or another: it was that they might escape the slaughter.
Galazi bounded to his feet. For one moment he thought. Might not these
hunters be hunted? Could he not destroy them by the jaws of the wolves
as once before they had destroyed a certain impi of the king's? Ay, if
he had seen them but one hour before, then scarcely a man of them
should have lived to reach the stream, for he would have waylaid them
with his wolves. But now it might not be; the soldiers neared the
ford, and Galazi knew well that his grey people would not hunt on the
further plain, though for this he had heard one reason only, that
Nada the Lily |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Message by Honore de Balzac: of poetry.
In 1819 I was traveling from Paris to Moulins. The state of my
finances obliged me to take an outside place. Englishmen, as you
know, regard those airy perches on the top of the coach as the
best seats; and for the first few miles I discovered abundance of
excellent reasons for justifying the opinion of our neighbors. A
young fellow, apparently in somewhat better circumstances, who
came to take the seat beside me from preference, listened to my
reasoning with inoffensive smiles. An approximate nearness of
age, a similarity in ways of thinking, a common love of fresh
air, and of the rich landscape scenery through which the coach
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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 Vailima Prayers & Sabbath Morn by Robert Louis Stevenson: patient still; suffer us yet awhile longer; - with our broken
purposes of good, with our idle endeavours against evil, suffer us
awhile longer to endure, and (if it may be) help us to do better.
Bless to us our extraordinary mercies; if the day come when these
must be taken, brace us to play the man under affliction. Be with
our friends, be with ourselves. Go with each of us to rest; if any
awake, temper to them the dark hours of watching; and when the day
returns, return to us, our sun and comforter, and call us up with
morning faces and with morning hearts - eager to labour - eager to
be happy, if happiness shall be our portion - and if the day be
marked for sorrow, strong to endure it.
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