| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Aesop's Fables by Aesop: The One-Eyed Doe
A Doe had had the misfortune to lose one of her eyes, and
could not see any one approaching her on that side. So to avoid
any danger she always used to feed on a high cliff near the sea,
with her sound eye looking towards the land. By this means she
could see whenever the hunters approached her on land, and often
escaped by this means. But the hunters found out that she was
blind of one eye, and hiring a boat rowed under the cliff where
she used to feed and shot her from the sea. "Ah," cried she with
her dying voice,
"You cannot escape your fate."
Aesop's Fables |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Horse's Tale by Mark Twain: "I reckon I better tell you the whole thing first, Marse Tom, then
tell you what she wants. There's been an emeute, as she calls it.
It was before she got back with BB. The officer of the day
reported it to her this morning. It happened at her fort. There
was a fuss betwixt Major-General Tommy Drake and Lieutenant-Colonel
Agnes Frisbie, and he snatched her doll away, which is made of
white kid stuffed with sawdust, and tore every rag of its clothes
off, right before them all, and is under arrest, and the charge is
conduct un - "
"Yes, I know - conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman - a
plain case, too, it seems to me. This is a serious matter. Well,
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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 Land that Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs: "I cannot tell you, Lys," I replied, "but it came to me from two
different sources."
"Then two men have lied," she asserted without heat. "I have not
spoken to Baron von Schoenvorts other than in your presence when
first we came aboard the U-33. And please, when you address me,
remember that to others than my intimates I am Miss La Rue."
Did you ever get slapped in the face when you least expected it?
No? Well, then you do not know how I felt at that moment.
I could feel the hot, red flush surging up my neck, across my
cheeks, over my ears, clear to my scalp. And it made me love her
all the more; it made me swear inwardly a thousand solemn oaths
The Land that Time Forgot |
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 My Aunt Margaret's Mirror by Walter Scott: Copland. The elder sister of this lady had previously become the
wife of my grandfather, Sir Geoffrey Bothwell, and brought into
our family a good fortune. Miss Jemima, or Miss Jemmie Falconer,
as she was usually called, had also about ten thousand pounds
sterling--then thought a very handsome portion indeed.
The two sisters were extremely different, though each had their
admirers while they remained single. Lady Bothwell had some
touch of the old King's Copland blood about her. She was bold,
though not to the degree of audacity, ambitious, and desirous to
raise her house and family; and was, as has been said, a
considerable spur to my grandfather, who was otherwise an
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