| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Master and Man by Leo Tolstoy: to his eyes and his lower jaw began to quiver rapidly. He
stopped speaking and only gulped down the risings in his
throat. 'Seems I was badly frightened and have gone quite
weak,' he thought. But this weakness was not only unpleasant,
but gave him a peculiar joy such as he had never felt before.
'That's our way!' he said to himself, experiencing a strange
and solemn tenderness. He lay like that for a long time,
wiping his eyes on the fur of his coat and tucking under his
knee the right skirt, which the wind kept turning up.
But he longed so passionately to tell somebody of his joyful
condition that he said: 'Nikita!'
Master and Man |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf: a wind, and erect itself again from this abasement only with a great
and rather painful effort? She must make it once more. There's the
sprig on the table-cloth; there's my painting; I must move the tree to
the middle; that matters--nothing else. Could she not hold fast to
that, she asked herself, and not lose her temper, and not argue; and if
she wanted revenge take it by laughing at him?
"Oh, Mr Tansley," she said, "do take me to the Lighthouse with you. I
should so love it."
She was telling lies he could see. She was saying what she did not
mean to annoy him, for some reason. She was laughing at him. He was in
his old flannel trousers. He had no others. He felt very rough and
To the Lighthouse |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Beauty and The Beast by Bayard Taylor: lurking ferocity of the beast. His tears burst forth in a shower;
he lifted and embraced the Princess, kissing her brow, her cheeks,
her chin, and her hands, calling her his darling daughter, his
little white dove, his lambkin.
"And, father, my Boris, too!" said she.
The pure liquid voice sent thrills of exquisite delight through his
whole frame. He embraced and blessed Boris, and then, throwing an
arm around each, held them to his breast, and wept passionately
upon their heads. By this time the whole castle overflowed with
weeping. Tears fell from every window and gallery; they hissed
upon the hot saucepans of the cooks; they moistened the oats in the
|
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 Tin Woodman of Oz by L. Frank Baum: vast cleared space in the forest. The clearing was
circular, big and roomy, yet the top branches of the
tall trees reached over and formed a complete dome or
roof for it. Strangely enough, it was not dark in this
immense natural chamber in the woodland, for the place
glowed with a soft, white light that seemed to come
from some unseen source.
In the chamber were grouped dozens of queer
creatures, and these so astonished the Tin Man that
Woot had to push his metal body aside, that he might
see, too. And the Scarecrow pushed Woot aside, so that
The Tin Woodman of Oz |
