| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Common Sense by Thomas Paine: do ye not abide by them? Why do ye not leave that, which ye call
God's Work, to be managed by himself? These very principles instruct
you to wait with patience and humility, for the event of all public measures,
and to receive that event as the divine will towards you. Wherefore,
what occasion is there for your POLITICAL TESTIMONY if you fully believe
what it contains? And the very publishing it proves, that either,
ye do not believe what ye profess, or have not virtue enough to practise
what ye believe.
The principles of Quakerism have a direct tendency to make a man
the quiet and inoffensive subject of any, and every government
WHICH IS SET OVER HIM. And if the setting up and putting down of kings
Common Sense |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Lady Susan by Jane Austen: run away. I had not a notion of her being such a little devil before, she
seemed to have all the Vernon milkiness; but on receiving the letter in
which I declared my intention about Sir James, she actually attempted to
elope; at least, I cannot otherwise account for her doing it. She meant, I
suppose, to go to the Clarkes in Staffordshire, for she has no other
acquaintances. But she shall be punished, she shall have him. I have sent
Charles to town to make matters up if he can, for I do not by any means
want her here. If Miss Summers will not keep her, you must find me out
another school, unless we can get her married immediately. Miss S. writes
word that she could not get the young lady to assign any cause for her
extraordinary conduct, which confirms me in my own previous explanation of
Lady Susan |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde: society is oneself.
PHIPPS. Yes, my lord.
LORD GORING. To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance,
Phipps.
PHIPPS. Yes, my lord.
LORD GORING. [Looking at himself in the glass.] Don't think I quite
like this buttonhole, Phipps. Makes me look a little too old. Makes
me almost in the prime of life, eh, Phipps?
PHIPPS. I don't observe any alteration in your lordship's
appearance.
LORD GORING. You don't, Phipps?
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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 Master of the World by Jules Verne: down upon the country.
Shrewd citizens of the town, however, observed that if there were an
eruption the noise would have continued and increased, the flames
would have appeared above the crater; or at least their lurid
reflections would have penetrated the clouds. Now, even these
reflections were no longer seen. If there had been an earthquake, the
terrified people saw that at least their houses had not crumbled
beneath the shock. It was possible that the uproar had been caused by
an avalanche, the fall of some mighty rock from the summit of the
mountains.
An hour passed without other incident. A wind from the west sweeping
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