| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Passionate Pilgrim by William Shakespeare: My vow was breath, and breath a vapour is;
Then, thou fair sun, that on this earth doth shine,
Exhale this vapour vow; in thee it is:
If broken, then it is no fault of mine.
If by me broke, what fool is not so wise
To break an oath, to win a paradise?
IV.
Sweet Cytherea, sitting by a brook
With young Adonis, lovely, fresh, and green,
Did court the lad with many a lovely look,
Such looks as none could look but beauty's queen,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from From London to Land's End by Daniel Defoe: observed a guard or watch placed on the shore in several places,
who, we found, had their eye, not on the fishermen, but on the
country people who came down to the shore to buy their fish; and
very sharp we found they were, and some that came with small carts
were obliged to go back empty without any fish. When we came to
inquire into the particulars of this, we found that these were
officers placed on the shore by the justices and magistrates of the
towns about, who were ordered to prevent the country farmers buying
the mackerel to dung their land with them, which was thought to be
dangerous as to infection. In short, such was the plenty of fish
that year that the mackerel, the finest and largest I ever saw,
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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 Mirror of the Sea by Joseph Conrad: provoked my mistrust. It is open to any man to say that his ship
will sail without ballast; and he will say it, too, with every mark
of profound conviction, especially if he is not going to sail in
her himself. The risk of advertising her as able to sail without
ballast is not great, since the statement does not imply a warranty
of her arriving anywhere. Moreover, it is strictly true that most
ships will sail without ballast for some little time before they
turn turtle upon the crew.
A shipowner loves a profitable ship; the seaman is proud of her; a
doubt of her good looks seldom exists in his mind; but if he can
boast of her more useful qualities it is an added satisfaction for
The Mirror of the Sea |
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 Pool of Blood in the Pastor's Study by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner: in a coffin in front of her door. He told it to the sexton, whom
he met in the fields; and next morning they found Betty dead. And
there are many more things that I could tell you, but what's the
use; when a man won't believe it's only lost talk to try to make
him. But one thing you should know: when Janci stares ahead of
him without seeing what's in front of him, then the whole village
begins to wonder what's going to happen, for Janci knows far more
than all the rest of us put together."
The smith's grave, deep voice filled the room and the others
listened in a silence that gave assent to his words. He had
scarcely finished speaking, however, when there was a noise of
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