| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Chance by Joseph Conrad: at himself.
As often happens after a grey daybreak the sun had risen in a warm
and glorious splendour above the smooth immense gleam of the
enlarged estuary. Wisps of mist floated like trails of luminous
dust, and in the dazzling reflections of water and vapour, the
shores had the murky semi-transparent darkness of shadows cast
mysteriously from below. Powell, who had sailed out of London all
his young sea-man's life, told me that it was then, in a moment of
entranced vision an hour or so after sunrise, that the river was
revealed to him for all time, like a fair face often seen before,
which is suddenly perceived to be the expression of an inner and
Chance |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin: Mrs. T----, having on his account lost her friends and business,
was often in distresses, and us'd to send for me, and borrow
what I could spare to help her out of them. I grew fond of
her company, and, being at that time under no religious restraint,
and presuming upon my importance to her, I attempted familiarities
(another erratum) which she repuls'd with a proper resentment,
and acquainted him with my behaviour. This made a breach between us;
and, when he returned again to London, he let me know he thought
I had cancell'd all the obligations he had been under to me.
So I found I was never to expect his repaying me what I lent to him,
or advanc'd for him. This, however, was not then of much consequence,
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Falk by Joseph Conrad: there was enough money to meet his bill, would
come along unsympathetically, glaring at you with
his yellow eyes from the bridge, and would drag you
out dishevelled as to rigging, lumbered as to the
decks, with unfeeling haste, as if to execution. And
he would force you too to take the end of his own
wire hawser, for the use of which there was of course
an extra charge. To your shouted remonstrances
against that extortion this towering trunk with one
hand on the engine-room telegraph only shook its
bearded head above the splash, the racket, and the
Falk |
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 Madame Firmiani by Honore de Balzac: two or three thousand francs a year, till I see my way to an
enterprise for which I shall want capital. At this moment I am so
happy that all I desire is just the means of living. I give lessons so
that I may not live at the cost of ANY ONE. If you only knew the
happiness I had in making that restitution! I found the Bourgneufs,
after a good deal of trouble, living miserably and in need of
everything. The old father was a lottery agent; the two daughters kept
his books and took care of the house; the mother was always ill. The
daughters are charming girls, but they have been cruelly taught that
the world thinks little of beauty without money. What a scene it was!
I entered their house the accomplice in a crime; I left it an honest
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