| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte: tone and manner in which he spoke.' 'Oh, that is nonsense! he
always speaks impressively; and at that moment there were the
Greens and Miss Matilda Murray just before, and other people
passing by, and he was obliged to stand close beside you, and to
speak very low, unless he wished everybody to hear what he said,
which - though it was nothing at all particular - of course, he
would rather not.' But then, above all, that emphatic, yet gentle
pressure of the hand, which seemed to say, 'TRUST me;' and many
other things besides - too delightful, almost too flattering, to be
repeated even to one's self. 'Egregious folly - too absurd to
require contradiction - mere inventions of the imagination, which
Agnes Grey |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Koran: (our testimony) for a price, though it were to a relative, nor will we
hide God's testimony, verily, then, we should be among sinners.' But
if it shall be lit upon that they too have deserved the imputation
of sin, then let two others stand up in their place with those who
think them deserving of the imputation, the nearest two in kin, and
they shall both swear by God, 'Indeed, our testimony is truer than the
testimony of those two, and we have not transgressed, for then we
should surely be of the unjust: thus is it easier for men to bear
testimony according to the purport thereof, else must they fear lest
an oath be given to rebut their own oath; but let them fear God and
listen, for God guides not the people who do ill.
The Koran |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte by Karl Marx: Finally, on January 29, 1849, the day arrived when the constitutional
assembly was to decide about its own dissolution. On that day the body
found its building occupied by the military; Changarnier, the General of
the party of Order, in whose hands was joined the supreme command of
both the National Guards and the regulars, held that day a great
military review, as though a battle were imminent; and the coalized
royalists declared threateningly to the constitutional assembly that
force would be applied if it did not act willingly. It was willing, and
chaffered only for a very short respite. What else was the 29th of
January, 1849, than the "coup d'etat" of December 2, 1851, only executed
by the royalists with Napoleon's aid against the republican National
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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 The Crisis in Russia by Arthur Ransome: exhaustion to despair. They believe, to put it briefly, that
Russia has passed through the worst stages of a process to
which every country in Europe will be submitted in turn by
its desperate and embittered inhabitants. We may disagree
with them, but we shall not understand them if we refuse to
take that belief into account. If, as they imagine, the next
five years are to be years of disturbance and growing
resolution, Russia will get very little from abroad. If, for
example, there is to be a serious struggle in England, Russia
will get practically nothing. They not only believe that these
things are going to be, but make the logical deductions as to
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