| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from When the Sleeper Wakes by H. G. Wells: Far away, spiked, jagged and indented by the wind
vanes, the Surrey Hills rose blue and faint; to the
north and nearer, the sharp contours of Highgate and
Muswell Hill were similarly jagged. And all over the
countryside, he knew, on every crest and hill, where
once the hedges had interlaced, and cottages, churches,
inns, and farmhouses had nestled among their trees,
wind wheels similar to those he saw and bearing like
vast advertisements, gaunt and distinctive
symbols of the new age, cast their whirling shadows and
stored incessantly the energy that flowed away
When the Sleeper Wakes |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Court Life in China by Isaac Taylor Headland: had drowned herself in a well during the Boxer troubles, the
Empress Dowager engaged him to the daughter of the lady who had
been Jung Lu's first concubine, but who, as his consort was dead,
was raised to the position of wife.
"This Lady Jung," says Mrs. Headland, "is some forty years of
age, very pretty, talkative, and vivacious, and she told me with
a good deal of pride, on one occasion, of the engagement of her
son to the sixth daughter of Prince Ching. And then with equal
enthusiasm she told me how her daughter had been married to
Prince Chun, 'which of course relates me with the two most
powerful families of the empire.'
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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 Amy Foster by Joseph Conrad: Vents, made a snatch at the pony's bridle. And
he caught him a good one too, right over the face,
he said, that made him drop down in the mud a
jolly sight quicker than he had jumped up; but it
was a good half-a-mile before he could stop the
pony. Maybe that in his desperate endeavours to
get help, and in his need to get in touch with some
one, the poor devil had tried to stop the cart. Also
three boys confessed afterwards to throwing stones
at a funny tramp, knocking about all wet and
muddy, and, it seemed, very drunk, in the narrow
Amy Foster |
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 When a Man Marries by Mary Roberts Rinehart: "Who's there?"
The man was so close it is a wonder I had not walked into him;
his voice was right at my ear.
"I am sorry I startled you," he said quietly. "I was afraid to
speak suddenly, or move, for fear I would do--what I have done."
It was Mr. Harbison.
"I--I thought you were--it is very late," I managed to say, with
dry lips. "Do you know where the electric switch is?"
"Mrs. Wilson!" It was clear he had not known me before. "Why, no;
don't you?"
"I am all confused," I muttered, and beat a retreat into the
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