| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe: I had indeed a mind to see the city of Pekin, which I had heard so
much of, and Father Simon importuned me daily to do it. At length
his time of going away being set, and the other missionary who was
to go with him being arrived from Macao, it was necessary that we
should resolve either to go or not; so I referred it to my partner,
and left it wholly to his choice, who at length resolved it in the
affirmative, and we prepared for our journey. We set out with very
good advantage as to finding the way; for we got leave to travel in
the retinue of one of their mandarins, a kind of viceroy or
principal magistrate in the province where they reside, and who
take great state upon them, travelling with great attendance, and
Robinson Crusoe |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Dynamiter by Robert Louis Stevenson and Fanny Van De Grift Stevenson: It was a question to which Somerset was far from being able
to reply. Taken as he was at unawares, masquerading in the
man's own coat, and surrounded by a whole arsenal of
diabolical explosives, the keeper of the lodging-house was
silenced.
'Yes,' resumed the other, 'I am he. I am that man, whom with
impotent hate and fear, they still hunt from den to den, from
disguise to disguise. Yes, my landlord, you have it in your
power, if you be poor, to lay the basis of your fortune; if
you be unknown, to capture honour at one snatch. You have
hocussed an innocent widow; and I find you here in my
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Human Drift by Jack London: letter to write.
NED. If you think I came because of a line in a letter about a
girl I'd never seen -
ALICE HEMINGWAY. [Mockingly.] The poor, jaded, world-worn man,
who is no longer interested in women . . . and girls! The poor,
tired pessimist who has lost all faith in the goodness of women -
NED. For which you are responsible.
ALICE HEMINGWAY. [Incredulously.] I?
NED. You are responsible. Why did you throw me over and marry
Jack?
ALICE HEMINGWAY. Do you want to know?
|
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 To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf: these days, he would read aloud, to one or two friends. There, in a
society where one could say what one liked he would sarcastically
describe "staying with the Ramsays" and what nonsense they talked. It
was worth while doing it once, he would say; but not again. The women
bored one so, he would say. Of course Ramsay had dished himself by
marrying a beautiful woman and having eight children. It would shape
itself something like that, but now, at this moment, sitting stuck
there with an empty seat beside him, nothing had shaped itself at all.
It was all in scraps and fragments. He felt extremely, even
physically, uncomfortable. He wanted somebody to give him a chance of
asserting himself. He wanted it so urgently that he fidgeted in his
To the Lighthouse |
