| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Apology by Plato: to try them in a body, contrary to law, as you all thought afterwards; but
at the time I was the only one of the Prytanes who was opposed to the
illegality, and I gave my vote against you; and when the orators threatened
to impeach and arrest me, and you called and shouted, I made up my mind
that I would run the risk, having law and justice with me, rather than take
part in your injustice because I feared imprisonment and death. This
happened in the days of the democracy. But when the oligarchy of the
Thirty was in power, they sent for me and four others into the rotunda, and
bade us bring Leon the Salaminian from Salamis, as they wanted to put him
to death. This was a specimen of the sort of commands which they were
always giving with the view of implicating as many as possible in their
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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 Water-Babies by Charles Kingsley: did not choose to believe in a water-baby when he saw it, she made
him believe in worse things than water-babies - in UNICORNS, FIRE-
DRAKES, MANTICORAS, BASILISKS, AMPHISBAENAS, GRIFFINS, PHOENIXES,
ROCS, ORCS, DOG-HEADED MEN, THREE-HEADED DOGS, THREE-BODIED
GERYONS, and other pleasant creatures, which folks think never
existed yet, and which folks hope never will exist, though they
know nothing about the matter, and never will; and these creatures
so upset, terrified, flustered, aggravated, confused, astounded,
horrified, and totally flabbergasted the poor professor that the
doctors said that he was out of his wits for three months; and
perhaps they were right, as they are now and then.
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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 The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad: the foot of the stairs. A faint snore came through the closed door
of the chief mate's room. The second mate's door was on the hook,
but the darkness in there was absolutely soundless. He, too,
was young and could sleep like a stone. Remained the steward,
but he was not likely to wake up before he was called.
I got a sleeping suit out of my room and, coming back on deck,
saw the naked man from the sea sitting on the main hatch,
glimmering white in the darkness, his elbows on his knees and his
head in his hands. In a moment he had concealed his damp body
in a sleeping suit of the same gray-stripe pattern as the one
I was wearing and followed me like my double on the poop.
The Secret Sharer |
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 Malbone: An Oldport Romance by Thomas Wentworth Higginson: more in proportion as he gave her less.
Sometimes in these moments of renewed affection he half gave
words to his remorse, accused himself before her of unnamed
wrong, and besought her to help him return to his better self.
These were the most dangerous moments of all, for such appeals
made tenderness and patience appear a duty; she must put away
her doubts as sins, and hold him to her; she must refuse to see
his signs of faltering faith, or treat them as mere symptoms of
ill health. Should not a wife cling the closer to her husband
in proportion as he seemed alienated through the wanderings of
disease? And was not this her position? So she said within
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