| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Alcibiades I by Plato: ALCIBIADES: Why, that if they were educated they would be trained
athletes, and he who means to rival them ought to have knowledge and
experience when he attacks them; but now, as they have become politicians
without any special training, why should I have the trouble of learning and
practising? For I know well that by the light of nature I shall get the
better of them.
SOCRATES: My dear friend, what a sentiment! And how unworthy of your
noble form and your high estate!
ALCIBIADES: What do you mean, Socrates; why do you say so?
SOCRATES: I am grieved when I think of our mutual love.
ALCIBIADES: At what?
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Across The Plains by Robert Louis Stevenson: warehouse at Edinburgh, or on the Fair Isle itself in the
catechist's house; and to this day, they tell the story of the Duke
of Medina Sidonia's adventure.
It would seem as if the Fair Isle had some attraction for "persons
of quality." When I landed there myself, an elderly gentleman,
unshaved, poorly attired, his shoulders wrapped in a plaid, was
seen walking to and fro, with a book in his hand, upon the beach.
He paid no heed to our arrival, which we thought a strange thing in
itself; but when one of the officers of the PHAROS, passing
narrowly by him, observed his book to be a Greek Testament, our
wonder and interest took a higher flight. The catechist was cross-
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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 The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad: the saloon, filling the water bottles there, scrubbing the bath,
setting things to rights, whisk, bang, clatter--out again
into the saloon--turn the key--click. Such was my scheme
for keeping my second self invisible. Nothing better could
be contrived under the circumstances. And there we sat;
I at my writing desk ready to appear busy with some papers,
he behind me out of sight of the door. It would not have
been prudent to talk in daytime; and I could not have stood
the excitement of that queer sense of whispering to myself.
Now and then, glancing over my shoulder, I saw him far back there,
sitting rigidly on the low stool, his bare feet close together,
The Secret Sharer |
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 Lily of the Valley by Honore de Balzac: service; all like you, and smile upon you. True passions are like
beautiful flowers all the more charming to the eye when they grow in a
barren soil.
But if I enjoyed the delightful benefits of naturalization in a family
where I found relations after my own heart, I had also to pay some
costs for it. Until then Monsieur de Mortsauf had more or less
restrained himself before me. I had only seen his failings in the
mass; I was now to see the full extent of their application and
discover how nobly charitable the countess had been in the account she
had given me of these daily struggles. I learned now all the angles of
her husband's intolerable nature; I heard his perpetual scolding about
The Lily of the Valley |
