| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Peter Pan by James M. Barrie: Now her fate would help to guard it also. One more wail would go
the round in that wind by night.
In the gloom that they brought with them the two pirates did
not see the rock till they crashed into it.
"Luff, you lubber," cried an Irish voice that was Smee's;
"here's the rock. Now, then, what we have to do is to hoist the
redskin on to it and leave her here to drown."
It was the work of one brutal moment to land the beautiful girl
on the rock; she was too proud to offer a vain resistance.
Quite near the rock, but out of sight, two heads were bobbing
up and down, Peter's and Wendy's. Wendy was crying, for it was
Peter Pan |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Proposed Roads To Freedom by Bertrand Russell: the primary force moving the pioneers of Socialism
and Anarchism, as it moved the inventors of ideal
commonwealths in the past. In this there is nothing
new. What is new in Socialism and Anarchism, is
that close relation of the ideal to the present
sufferings of men, which has enabled powerful political
movements to grow out of the hopes of solitary thinkers.
It is this that makes Socialism and Anarchism
important, and it is this that makes them dangerous
to those who batten, consciously or unconsciously
upon the evils of our present order of society.
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Within the Tides by Joseph Conrad: and I, his brother-in-law, had coaches and mules for hire. Now
there are no travellers, no coaches. The French have ruined me.
Bernardino has retired here for reasons of his own after my sister
died. They were three to torment the life out of her, he and
Erminia and Lucilla, two aunts of his - all affiliated to the
devil. And now he has robbed me of my last mule. You are an armed
man. Demand the MACHO from him, with a pistol to his head, senor -
it is not his, I tell you - and ride after your man who is so
precious to you. And then you shall both be safe, for no two
travellers have been ever known to disappear together in those
days. As to the beast, I, its owner, I confide it to your honour."
Within the Tides |
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 Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte: the house; and she beguiled Hareton, who had perfectly recovered
from his accident, to dig and arrange her little garden, which was
shifted to that corner by the influence of Joseph's complaints. I
was comfortably revelling in the spring fragrance around, and the
beautiful soft blue overhead, when my young lady, who had run down
near the gate to procure some primrose roots for a border, returned
only half laden, and informed us that Mr. Heathcliff was coming in.
'And he spoke to me,' she added, with a perplexed countenance.
'What did he say?' asked Hareton.
'He told me to begone as fast as I could,' she answered. 'But he
looked so different from his usual look that I stopped a moment to
Wuthering Heights |
