| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Lemorne Versus Huell by Elizabeth Drew Stoddard: happened to be a bright one, I was riding on the road which led to
the glen, when I heard the screaming of a flock of geese which were
waddling across the path in front of the horses. I started, for I
was asleep probably, and, looking forward, saw the Uxbridge
carriage, filled with ladies and children, coming toward me; and by
it rode a gentleman on horseback. His horse was rearing among the
hissing geese, but neither horse nor geese appeared to engage him;
his eyes were fixed upon me. The horse swerved so near that its
long mane almost brushed against me. By an irresistible impulse I
laid my ungloved hand upon it, but did not look at the rider.
Carriage and horseman passed on, and William resumed his pace. A
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from My Aunt Margaret's Mirror by Walter Scott: Being whom he has so greatly offended, not of an erring mortal
like himself. What could my forgiveness avail him?'
"'Much,' answered the old man. 'It will be an earnest of that
which he may then venture to ask from his Creator, lady, and from
yours. Remember, Lady Bothwell, you too have a death-bed to look
forward to; Your soul may--all human souls must--feel the awe of
facing the judgment-seat, with the wounds of an untented
conscience, raw, and rankling--what thought would it be then that
should whisper, "I have given no mercy, how then shall I ask
it?"'
"'Man, whosoever thou mayest be,' replied Lady Bothwell, 'urge me
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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 Verses 1889-1896 by Rudyard Kipling: Must he have his Law as a quid to chaw, or laid in brass on his wheel?
Does he steal with tears when he buccaneers?
'Fore Gad, then, why does he steal?"
The skipper bit on a deep-sea word, and the word it was not sweet,
For he could see the Captains Three had signalled to the Fleet.
But three and two, in white and blue, the whimpering flags began: --
"We have heard a tale of a -- foreign sail, but he is a merchantman."
The skipper peered beneath his palm and swore by the Great Horn Spoon: --
"'Fore Gad, the Chaplain of the Fleet would bless my picaroon!"
By two and three the flags blew free to lash the laughing air: --
"We have sold our spars to the merchantman -- we know that his price is fair."
Verses 1889-1896 |
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 Ferragus by Honore de Balzac: were in his glance, no precise object appeared in his movements; he
never smiled; he never raised his eyes to heaven, but kept them
habitually on the ground, where he seemed to be looking for something.
At four o'clock an old woman arrived, to take him Heaven knows where;
which she did by towing him along by the arm, as a young girl drags a
wilful goat which still wants to browse by the wayside. This old man
was a horrible thing to see.
In the afternoon of the day when Jules Desmarets left Paris, his
travelling-carriage, in which he was alone, passed rapidly through the
rue de l'Est, and came out upon the esplanade of the Observatoire at
the moment when the old man, leaning against a tree, had allowed his
Ferragus |
