| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from 'Twixt Land & Sea by Joseph Conrad: heads she stopped, inclined her lofty spars a little, and lay
still. She lay still on the reef, while the Neptun, fetching a
wide circle, continued at full speed up Spermonde Passage, heading
for the town. She lay still, perfectly still, with something ill-
omened and unnatural in her attitude. In an instant the subtle
melancholy of things touched by decay had fallen on her in the
sunshine; she was but a speck in the brilliant emptiness of space,
already lonely, already desolate.
"Hold him!" yelled a voice from the bridge.
Jasper had started to run to his brig with a headlong impulse, as a
man dashes forward to pull away with his hands a living, breathing,
'Twixt Land & Sea |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling: "It is only old Kaa making circles on the dust," said Mowgli.
"Let us go." And the three slipped off through a gap in the walls
to the jungle.
"Whoof!" said Baloo, when he stood under the still trees
again. "Never more will I make an ally of Kaa," and he shook
himself all over.
"He knows more than we," said Bagheera, trembling. "In a
little time, had I stayed, I should have walked down his throat."
"Many will walk by that road before the moon rises again,"
said Baloo. "He will have good hunting--after his own fashion."
"But what was the meaning of it all?" said Mowgli, who did not
The Jungle Book |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Arizona Nights by Stewart Edward White: and empty. His hand brushed against something which fell, to the
ground. He brought his dull gaze to bear on it. The object
proved to be a black, wrinkled spheroid, baked hard as iron in
the sunshine of Estrella's toys, a potato squeezed to dryness by
the constricting power of the rawhide. In a row along the fence
were others. To Senor Johnson it seemed that thus his heart was
being squeezed in the fire of suffering.
But the slight movement of the falling object roused him. He
swung open the gate. The pony bowed his head delightedly. He
was not tired, but his reins depended straight to the ground, and
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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 Barlaam and Ioasaph by St. John of Damascus: While he was in this condition, there was born to him a son, and
the king's soul was filled with joy thereat. Then they that were
learned amongst his physicians told him that, if for the first
twelve years the boy saw the sun or fire, he should entirely lose
his sight, for this was proved by the condition of his eyes.
Hearing this, the king, they say, caused a little house, full of
dark chambers, to be hewn out of the rock, and therein enclosed
his child together with the men that nursed him, and, until the
twelve years were past, never suffered him to see the least ray
of light. After the fulfilment of the twelve years, the king
brought forth from his little house his son that had never seen
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