| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Symposium by Plato: witness, fleeing out of the way of age, who is swift enough, swifter truly
than most of us like:--Love hates him and will not come near him; but youth
and love live and move together--like to like, as the proverb says. Many
things were said by Phaedrus about Love in which I agree with him; but I
cannot agree that he is older than Iapetus and Kronos:--not so; I maintain
him to be the youngest of the gods, and youthful ever. The ancient doings
among the gods of which Hesiod and Parmenides spoke, if the tradition of
them be true, were done of Necessity and not of Love; had Love been in
those days, there would have been no chaining or mutilation of the gods, or
other violence, but peace and sweetness, as there is now in heaven, since
the rule of Love began. Love is young and also tender; he ought to have 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 In a German Pension by Katherine Mansfield: "But why must I do everything?" said Sabina, washing glasses. "I can't
help the Frau; she oughtn't to take such a time about it."
"Listen," said Anna, "they've moved her into the back bedroom above here,
so as not to disturb the people. That was a groan--that one!"
"Two small beers," shouted Herr Lehmann through the slide.
"One moment, one moment."
At eight o'clock the cafe was deserted. Sabina sat down in the corner
without her sewing. Nothing seemed to have happened to the Frau. A doctor
had come--that was all.
"Ach," said Sabina. "I think no more of it. I listen no more. Ach, I
would like to go away--I hate this talk. I will not hear it. No, it is
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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 From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne: About forty-five minutes past five in the evening, Nicholl,
armed with his glass, sighted toward the southern border of the
moon, and in the direction followed by the projectile, some
bright points cut upon the dark shield of the sky. They looked
like a succession of sharp points lengthened into a tremulous line.
They were very bright. Such appeared the terminal line of the
moon when in one of her octants.
They could not be mistaken. It was no longer a simple meteor.
This luminous ridge had neither color nor motion. Nor was it a
volcano in eruption. And Barbicane did not hesitate to
pronounce upon it.
From the Earth to the Moon |
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 The New Machiavelli by H. G. Wells: an impulse to go over to him and nudge him and say to him, "Look
here! What indeed do you think we are doing with the nation and
the empire and mankind? You know--MANKIND!"
I wonder what reply I should have got.
So far as any average could be struck and so far as any backbone
could be located, it seemed to me that this silent, shy, replete,
sub-angry, middle-class sentimentalist was in his endless species
and varieties and dialects the backbone of our party. So far as I
could be considered as representing anything in the House, I
pretended to sit for the elements of HIM. . . .
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