| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain: -- and then he begun to pull off his clothes and sling
them. He shed them so thick they kind of clogged
up the air, and altogether he shed seventeen suits.
And, then, there he was, slim and handsome, and
dressed the gaudiest and prettiest you ever saw, and
he lit into that horse with his whip and made him fairly
hum -- and finally skipped off, and made his bow and
danced off to the dressing-room, and everybody just
a-howling with pleasure and astonishment.
Then the ringmaster he see how he had been fooled,
and he WAS the sickest ringmaster you ever see, I
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey: old friends--"
"I won't change my mind. As for old friends--" He uttered a
short, expressive laugh.
"Then--there--there must be a--a woman!" Dark red mantled the
clear tan of temple and cheek and neck. Her eyes were eyes of
shame, upheld a long moment by intense, straining search for the
verification of her fear. Suddenly they drooped, her head fell to
her knees, her hands flew to her hot cheeks.
"Bess--look here," said Venters, with a sharpness due to the
violence with which he checked his quick, surging emotion.
As if compelled against her will--answering to an irresistible
Riders of the Purple Sage |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Essays of Travel by Robert Louis Stevenson: gradually study himself into humour with the artist, than he can ever
extract from the dazzle and accumulation of incongruous impressions
that send him, weary and stupefied, out of some famous picture-
gallery. But what is thus admitted with regard to art is not
extended to the (so-called) natural beauties no amount of excess in
sublime mountain outline or the graces of cultivated lowland can do
anything, it is supposed, to weaken or degrade the palate. We are
not at all sure, however, that moderation, and a regimen tolerably
austere, even in scenery, are not healthful and strengthening to the
taste; and that the best school for a lover of nature is not to the
found in one of those countries where there is no stage effect -
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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 Vailima Prayers & Sabbath Morn by Robert Louis Stevenson: must be taken, brace us to play the man under affliction. Be with
our friends, be with ourselves. Go with each of us to rest; if any
awake, temper to them the dark hours of watching; and when the day
returns, return to us, our sun and comforter, and call us up with
morning faces and with morning hearts - eager to labour - eager to
be happy, if happiness shall be our portion - and if the day be
marked for sorrow, strong to endure it.
We thank Thee and praise Thee; and in the words of him to whom this
day is sacred, close our oblation.
FOR SELF-BLAME
LORD, enlighten us to see the beam that is in our own eye, and
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