| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Dreams & Dust by Don Marquis: Is a mist thrown off and resumed by the soul, as
a world by a god.
Back of the transient appearance dwells in inef-
fable calm
The utter reality, ultimate truth; this seems and
that is.
THE STRUGGLE
I HAVE been down in a dark valley;
I have been groping through a deep gorge;
Far above, the lips of it were rimmed with moon-
light,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Westward Ho! by Charles Kingsley: few weeks; so, making a virtue of necessity, he asked them whether
they would go Spaniard-hunting with him.
This was just what the bold Coromantees wished for; they grinned
and shouted their delight at serving under so great a warrior, and
then set to work most gallantly, getting through more in the day
than any ten Indians, and indeed than any two Englishmen.
So went on several days, during which the trees were felled, and
the process of digging them out began; while Ayacanora, silent and
moody, wandered into the woods all day with her blow-gun, and
brought home at evening a load of parrots, monkeys, and curassows;
two or three old hands were sent out to hunt likewise; so that,
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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 Grimm's Fairy Tales by Brothers Grimm: ride in and speak to the king; and when he sees that it is the right
horse, he will bring out the bird; but you must sit still, and say
that you want to look at it, to see whether it is the true golden
bird; and when you get it into your hand, ride away.'
This, too, happened as the fox said; they carried off the bird, the
princess mounted again, and they rode on to a great wood. Then the fox
came, and said, 'Pray kill me, and cut off my head and my feet.' But
the young man refused to do it: so the fox said, 'I will at any rate
give you good counsel: beware of two things; ransom no one from the
gallows, and sit down by the side of no river.' Then away he went.
'Well,' thought the young man, 'it is no hard matter to keep that
Grimm's Fairy Tales |
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 Mistress Wilding by Rafael Sabatini: of his line, pointing out to him the importance of his existence,
the insignificance of her own. She was but a girl, a thing of small
account where the perpetuation of a family was at issue. After all,
she must marry somebody some day, she repeated, and perhaps she had
been foolish in attaching too much importance to the tales she had
heard of Mr. Wilding. Probably he was no worse than other men, and
after all he was a gentleman of wealth and position, such a man as
half the women in Somerset might be proud to own for husband.
Her arguments and his weakness - his returning cowardice, which made
him lend an ear to those same arguments - prevailed with him; at
least they convinced him that he was far too important a person to
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