| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Jolly Corner by Henry James: reference, above all, to memories and histories into which he could
enter, she was as exquisite for him as some pale pressed flower (a
rarity to begin with), and, failing other sweetnesses, she was a
sufficient reward of his effort. They had communities of
knowledge, "their" knowledge (this discriminating possessive was
always on her lips) of presences of the other age, presences all
overlaid, in his case, by the experience of a man and the freedom
of a wanderer, overlaid by pleasure, by infidelity, by passages of
life that were strange and dim to her, just by "Europe" in short,
but still unobscured, still exposed and cherished, under that pious
visitation of the spirit from which she had never been diverted.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Under the Andes by Rex Stout: breathing space, save when our arriero led us, almost by
magic it seemed, to a camping place for the night. We would ascend
the side of a narrow valley; on one hand roared a torrent some
hundreds of feet below; on the other rose an uncompromising wall of
rock. So narrow would be the track that as I sat astride my mule
my outside leg would be hanging over the abyss.
But the grandeur, the novelty, and the variety of the scenery
repaid us; and Le Mire loved the danger for its own sake. Time and
again she swayed far out of her saddle until her body was literally
suspended in the air above some frightful chasm, while she turned
her head to laugh gaily at Harry and myself, who brought up the
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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 Miracle Mongers and Their Methods by Harry Houdini: management of Gyngell, the conjuror, who
dubbed him The Young Hercules. Shortly
afterward he appeared at Sadler's Wells
Theater, where he created a profound sensation,
under the name of The Patagonian Samson.
The feature of his act was carrying a
pyramid of from seven to ten men in a manner
never before attempted. He wore a sort of
harness with footholds for the men, and when
all were in position he moved about the stage
with perfect ease, soliciting ``kind applause''
Miracle Mongers and Their Methods |
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 Prince by Nicolo Machiavelli: acquired, they were compelled, in order to secure themselves, to
murder him. They had afterwards for their captains Bartolomeo da
Bergamo, Roberto da San Severino, the count of Pitigliano,[&] and the
like, under whom they had to dread loss and not gain, as happened
afterwards at Vaila,[$] where in one battle they lost that which in
eight hundred years they had acquired with so much trouble. Because
from such arms conquests come but slowly, long delayed and
inconsiderable, but the losses sudden and portentous.
[*] Battle of Caravaggio, 15th September 1448.
[+] Johanna II of Naples, the widow of Ladislao, King of Naples.
[%] Giovanni Acuto. An English knight whose name was Sir John
The Prince |
