| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Chita: A Memory of Last Island by Lafcadio Hearn: still, leaning upon their rifles. Then Carmen came out to them
with gourds and a bucket of fresh water, which all were glad to
drink.
They waited many minutes. Perhaps it was the cool peace of the
place that made them all feel how hot and tired they were:
conversation flagged; and the general languor finally betrayed
itself in a silence so absolute that every leaf-whisper seemed to
become separately audible.
It was broken at last by the guttural voice of the old captain
emerging from the cottage, leading the child by the hand, and
followed by Carmen and Feliu. All who had been resting rose up
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Mountains by Stewart Edward White: you will be consumedly anxious to get out.
It does not matter how much of a savage you are,
how good a time you are having, or how long you
have been away from civilization. Nor does it mean
especially that you are glad to leave the wilds.
Merely does it come about that you drift unconcernedly
on the stream of days until you approach the
brink of departure: then irresistibly the current
hurries you into haste. The last day of your week's
vacation; the last three of your month's or your
summer's or your year's outing,--these comprise the
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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 Trooper Peter Halket of Mashonaland by Olive Schreiner: race so enfeebled, that we dare no longer to proclaim war; but must creep
silently upon our bellies in the dark to stab, like a subject people to
whom no other course is open? These men are English; but not English-MEN.
When the men of our race fight, they go to war with a blazoned flag and the
loud trumpet before them. It is because I am an Englishman that these
things crush me. Better that ten thousand of us should lie dead and
defeated on one battlefield, fighting for some great cause, and my own sons
among them, than that those twelve poor boys should have fallen at
Doornkop, fighting to fill up the pockets of those already oe'r-heavy with
gold.'
"And she said, 'YOU, what does it matter what you feel or think; YOU will
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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 Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte: agean! I'd fling in bowl un' all, if I wer ye! There, pale t'
guilp off, un' then ye'll hae done wi' 't. Bang, bang. It's a
mercy t' bothom isn't deaved out!'
It WAS rather a rough mess, I own, when poured into the basins;
four had been provided, and a gallon pitcher of new milk was
brought from the dairy, which Hareton seized and commenced drinking
and spilling from the expansive lip. I expostulated, and desired
that he should have his in a mug; affirming that I could not taste
the liquid treated so dirtily. The old cynic chose to be vastly
offended at this nicety; assuring me, repeatedly, that 'the barn
was every bit as good' as I, 'and every bit as wollsome,' and
Wuthering Heights |
