| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from St. Ives by Robert Louis Stevenson: hands with me - up to the elbows, sir! A Frenchman you may be, but
you're one of the right breed, by God! And, by God, sir, you may
have anything you care to ask of me, down to Dolly's hand, by God!'
All this he roared out in a voice surprisingly powerful from so
small a person. Every word was thus audible to the servants, who
had followed them out of the house and now congregated about us on
the terrace, as well as to Rowley and the five postillions on the
gravel sweep below. The sentiments expressed were popular; some
ass, whom the devil moved to be my enemy, proposed three cheers,
and they were given with a will. To hear my own name resounding
amid acclamations in the hills of Westmorland was flattering,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Extracts From Adam's Diary by Mark Twain: to lie among when a person hasn't anything on.
Sunday
Pulled through.
Tuesday
She has taken up with a snake now. The other animals are glad,
for she was always experimenting with them and bothering them;
and I am glad, because the snake talks, and this enables me to
get a rest.
Friday
She says the snake advises her to try the fruit of that tree, and
says the result will be a great and fine and noble education. I
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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 When the World Shook by H. Rider Haggard: false, love betrayed, love gone astray, love wandering through
the worlds, love asleep and living in its sleep, love awake and
yet sleeping; all love that has in it the germ of life. It
matters not what form love takes. If it be true I tell you that
it will win its way, and in the many that it has seemed to
worship, still find the one, though perchance not here.
At her words a numb fear gripped my heart.
"Not here? Then where?" I said.
"Ask your dead wife, Humphrey. Ask the dumb stars. Ask the God
you worship, for I cannot answer, save in one word--Somewhere!
Man, be not afraid. Do you think that such as you and I can be
When the World Shook |
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 Turn of the Screw by Henry James: interlocked sweetness, gave my colleague something to hold on by;
and I felt how tight she held as, without stirring in the breath
of my passion, she covered them still with her eyes.
"Of what other things have you got hold?"
"Why, of the very things that have delighted, fascinated, and yet,
at bottom, as I now so strangely see, mystified and troubled me.
Their more than earthly beauty, their absolutely unnatural goodness.
It's a game," I went on; "it's a policy and a fraud!"
"On the part of little darlings--?"
"As yet mere lovely babies? Yes, mad as that seems!"
The very act of bringing it out really helped me to
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