| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: How the Otter first essayed it;
How the Beaver, Lynx, and Badger
Tried in turn the great achievement,
From the summit of the mountain
Smote their fists against the heavens,
Smote against the sky their foreheads,
Cracked the sky, but could not break it;
How the Wolverine, uprising,
Made him ready for the encounter,
Bent his knees down, like a squirrel,
Drew his arms back, like a cricket.
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson: visitor, but held out a cold hand and bade him welcome in a
changed voice.
"And now," said Mr. Utterson, as soon as Poole had left them,
"you have heard the news?"
The doctor shuddered. "They were crying it in the square," he
said. "I heard them in my dining-room."
"One word," said the lawyer. "Carew was my client, but so are
you, and I want to know what I am doing. You have not been mad
enough to hide this fellow?"
"Utterson, I swear to God," cried the doctor, "I swear to God
I will never set eyes on him again. I bind my honour to you that
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx: branch the old order of society.
What they upbraid the bourgeoisie with is not so much that it
creates
a proletariat, as that it creates a revolutionary proletariat.
In political practice, therefore, they join in all coercive
measures against the working class; and in ordinary life, despite
their high falutin phrases, they stoop to pick up the golden
apples dropped from the tree of industry, and to barter truth,
love,
and honour for traffic in wool, beetroot-sugar, and potato
spirits.
The Communist Manifesto |
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 Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy: come in!"
There was no immediate answer to her cry, and overpowered by her
own temerity, Grace retreated quickly, shut the door, and stood
looking on the floor. But it was not for long. She again lifted
the latch, and with far more determination than at first.
"Giles, Giles!" she cried, with the full strength of her voice,
and without any of the shamefacedness that had characterized her
first cry. "Oh, come in--come in! Where are you? I have been
wicked. I have thought too much of myself! Do you hear? I don't
want to keep you out any longer. I cannot bear that you should
suffer so. Gi-i-iles!"
The Woodlanders |
