| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Madam How and Lady Why by Charles Kingsley: this very glen for fifteen years before I made that guess; and I
have looked at it some ten years since, to make sure that my guess
held good. For man after all is very blind, my dear boy, and very
stupid, and cannot see what lies under his own feet all day long;
and if Lady Why, and He whom Lady Why obeys, were not very patient
and gentle with mankind, they would have perished off the face of
the earth long ago, simply from their own stupidity. I, at least,
was very stupid in this case, for I had my head full of
earthquakes, and convulsions of nature, and all sorts of prodigies
which never happened to this glen; and so, while I was trying to
find what was not there, I of course found nothing. But when I
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Spirit of the Border by Zane Grey: incident of his day's travel. One evening he came back with a large black fox
that he had killed.
"What beautiful, glossy fur!" said Joe. "I never saw a black fox before."
"I've been layin' fer this fellar some time," replied Wetzel, as he began his
first evening task, that of combing his hair. "Jest back here in a clump of
cottonwoods there's a holler log full of leaves. Happenin' to see a blacksnake
sneakin' round, I thought mebbe he was up to somethin', so I investigated, an'
found a nest full of young rabbits. I killed the snake, an' arter that took an
interest in 'em. Every time I passed I'd look in at the bunnies, an' each time
I seen signs that some tarnal varmint had been prowlin' round. One day I
missed a bunny, an' next day another; so on until only one was left, a peart
The Spirit of the Border |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Middlemarch by George Eliot: to Dorothea was, like other oppositions, to be viewed in many
different lights. He regarded it as a mixture of jealousy and
dunderheaded prejudice. Mr. Bulstrode saw in it not only medical
jealousy but a determination to thwart himself, prompted mainly
by a hatred of that vital religion of which he had striven to be
an effectual lay representative--a hatred which certainly found
pretexts apart from religion such as were only too easy to find
in the entanglements of human action. These might be called the
ministerial views. But oppositions have the illimitable range of
objections at command, which need never stop short at the boundary
of knowledge, but can draw forever on the vasts of ignorance.
Middlemarch |
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 Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde: unconscious of the falling day and creeping shadows.
Cloudless, and pierced by one solitary star, a copper-green
sky gleamed through the windows. He read on by its wan light
till he could read no more. Then, after his valet had reminded
him several times of the lateness of the hour, he got up,
and going into the next room, placed the book on the little
Florentine table that always stood at his bedside and began
to dress for dinner.
It was almost nine o'clock before he reached the club, where he found
Lord Henry sitting alone, in the morning-room, looking very much bored.
"I am so sorry, Harry," he cried, "but really it is entirely your fault.
The Picture of Dorian Gray |
