| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Schoolmistress and Other Stories by Anton Chekhov: What would be the result? The result would be that while here in
Moscow they were being married, some Smolensk accountant would be
debauching another lot, and that lot would be streaming here to
fill the vacant places, together with others from Saratov,
Nizhni-Novgorod, Warsaw. . . . And what is one to do with the
hundred thousand in London? What's one to do with those in
Hamburg?"
The lamp in which the oil had burnt down began to smoke.
Vassilyev did not notice it. He began pacing to and fro again,
still thinking. Now he put the question differently: what must be
done that fallen women should not be needed? For that, it was
The Schoolmistress and Other Stories |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Almayer's Folly by Joseph Conrad: fortitude.
Next time the steamer called in Sambir Ali came on board early
with a grievance. He complained to Ford that Jim-Eng the
Chinaman had invaded Almayer's house, and actually had lived
there for the last month.
"And they both smoke," added Ali.
"Phew! Opium, you mean?"
Ali nodded, and Ford remained thoughtful; then he muttered to
himself, "Poor devil! The sooner the better now." In the
afternoon he walked up to the house.
"What are you doing here?" he asked of Jim-Eng, whom he found
Almayer's Folly |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Woman and Labour by Olive Schreiner: The fact that a statement is frequently made or a view held forms no
presumptive ground of its truth; but it is undoubtedly a ground for
supposing that there is an appearance or semblance which makes it appear
truth, and which suggests it. The universally entertained conception that
the sun moved round the world was not merely false, but the reverse of the
truth; all that was required for its inception was a fallacious appearance
suggesting it.
When we examine narrowly the statement, that the entrance of woman into the
new fields of labour, with its probably resulting greater freedom of
action, economic independence and wider culture, may result in a severance
between the sexes, it becomes clear what that fallacious appearance is,
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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 Concerning Christian Liberty by Martin Luther: before you and suppress them, and to impose silence and peace on
both sides--a word which I have ever longed to hear.
Therefore, Leo, my Father, beware of listening to those sirens
who make you out to be not simply a man, but partly a god, so
that you can command and require whatever you will. It will not
happen so, nor will you prevail. You are the servant of servants,
and more than any other man, in a most pitiable and perilous
position. Let not those men deceive you who pretend that you are
lord of the world; who will not allow any one to be a Christian
without your authority; who babble of your having power over
heaven, hell, and purgatory. These men are your enemies and are
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