| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Ballads by Robert Louis Stevenson: That the elders taught to the young, and at night, in the full of the moon,
Garlanded boys and maidens sang together in tune.
Tamatea the placable went with a lingering foot;
He sang as loud as a bird, he whistled hoarse as a flute;
He broiled in the sun, he breathed in the grateful shadow of trees,
In the icy stream of the rivers he waded over the knees;
And still in his empty mind crowded, a thousand-fold,
The deeds of the strong and the songs of the cunning heroes of old.
And now was he come to a place Taiarapu honoured the most,
Where a silent valley of woods debouched on the noisy coast,
Spewing a level river. There was a haunt of Pai. (2)
Ballads |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from In the Cage by Henry James: couldn't be at all sure he did real justice. Real justice was not
of this world: she had had too often to come back to that; yet,
strangely, happiness was, and her traps had to be set for it in a
manner to keep them unperceived by Mr. Buckton and the counter-
clerk. The most she could hope for apart from the question, which
constantly flickered up and died down, of the divine chance of his
consciously liking her, would be that, without analysing it, he
should arrive at a vague sense that Cocker's was--well, attractive;
easier, smoother, sociably brighter, slightly more picturesque, in
short more propitious in general to his little affairs, than any
other establishment just thereabouts. She was quite aware that
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Street of Seven Stars by Mary Roberts Rinehart: room, clearly in the way, but fearful to leave Harmony alone with
her. She was quite likely, at the first opportunity, to read her
a lesson on the conventions, if nothing worse; to upset the
delicate balance of the little household he was guarding. So he
stayed, praying for Anna to come and bear out his story, while
Harmony toyed with her spoon and waited for some mention of the
lessons. None came. Mrs. Boyer, having finished her tea, rose and
put down her cup.
"That was very refreshing," she said. "Where shall I find the
street-car? I walked out, but it is late."
"I'll take you to the car." Peter picked up his old hat.
|
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 A Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay: clean, brown earth, A distant waterfall sounded. They were in shade,
but the air was pleasantly warm. There were no insects to irritate
them. The bright lake outside looked cool and poetic.
Gangnet pressed Maskull's arm affectionately. "If the bringing of
you from your world had fallen to me, Maskull, it is here I would
have brought you, and not to the scarlet desert. Then you would have
escaped the dark spots, and Tormance would have appeared beautiful to
you."
"And what then, Gangnet? The dark spots would have existed all the
same."
"You could have seen them afterward. It makes all the difference
|
