| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Mucker by Edgar Rice Burroughs: him in the scuppers, bleeding and stunned. The next wave
would carry him overboard.
Released from surveillance the balance of the crew pushed
and fought their way into the cabin--only the mucker remained
without, staring first at the prostrate form of the mate
and then at the open cabin hatch. Had one been watching
him he might reasonably have thought that the man's mind
was in a muddle of confused thoughts and fears; but such was
far from the case. Billy was waiting to see if the mate would
revive sufficiently to return across the deck before the next
wave swept the ship. It was very interesting--he wondered
The Mucker |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain: their breakfast and their talk with me, were as full of
humble reverence for their king and Church and nobility
as their worst enemy could desire. There was some-
thing pitifully ludicrous about it. I asked them if they
supposed a nation of people ever existed, who, with a
free vote in every man's hand, would elect that a single
family and its descendants should reign over it forever,
whether gifted or boobies, to the exclusion of all other
families -- including the voter's; and would also elect
that a certain hundred families should be raised to dizzy
summits of rank, and clothed on with offensive trans-
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Start in Life by Honore de Balzac: who either did not know, or pretended not to know her previous
condition. Moreau did services to many persons. He induced his master
to agree to certain things which seem trifles in Paris, but are really
of immense importance in the country. After bringing about the
appointment of a certain "juge de paix" at Beaumont and also at Isle-
Adam, he had, in the same year, prevented the dismissal of a keeper-
general of the Forests, and obtained the cross of the Legion of honor
for the first cavalry-sergeant at Beaumont. Consequently, no festivity
was ever given among the bourgeoisie to which Monsieur and Madame
Moreau were not invited. The rector of Presles and the mayor of
Presles came every evening to play cards with them. It is difficult
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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 Travels of Sir John Mandeville by Sir John Mandeville: marvels in their time. For they say well that they be not gods;
for they know well that there is a God of kind that made all
things, the which is in heaven. But they know well that this may
not do the marvels that he made, but if it had been by the special
gift of God; and therefore they say that he was well with God, and
for because that he was so well with God, therefore they worship
him. And so say they of the sun, because that he changeth the
time, and giveth heat, and nourisheth all things upon earth; and
for it is of so great profit, they know well that that might not
be, but that God loveth it more than any other thing, and, for that
skill, God hath given it more great virtue in the world.
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