| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Story of an African Farm by Olive Schreiner: on his stomach, and waved his dilapidated little shoes in the air.
Soon, from the blue bag where he kept his dinner, he produced a fragment of
slate, an arithmetic, and a pencil. Proceeding to put down a sum with
solemn and earnest demeanour, he began to add it up aloud: "Six and two is
eight--and four is twelve--and two is fourteen--and four is eighteen."
Here he paused. "And four is eighteen--and--four--is--eighteen." The last
was very much drawled. Slowly the pencil slipped from his fingers, and the
slate followed it into the sand. For a while he lay motionless, then began
muttering to himself, folded his little arms, laid his head down upon them,
and might have been asleep, but for the muttering sound that from time to
time proceeded from him. A curious old ewe came to sniff at him; but it
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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 Witch, et. al by Anton Chekhov: landowner's estate beyond the river, arrived home, too. Marya,
the wife of Nikolay's brother Kiryak, had six children, and
Fyokla, the wife of Nikolay's brother Denis -- who had gone for a
soldier -- had two; and when Nikolay, going into the hut, saw all
the family, all those bodies big and little moving about on the
lockers, in the hanging cradles and in all the corners, and when
he saw the greed with which the old father and the women ate the
black bread, dipping it in water, he realized he had made a
mistake in coming here, sick, penniless, and with a family, too
-- a great mistake!
"And where is Kiryak?" he asked after they had exchanged
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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 Last War: A World Set Free by H. G. Wells: I shall take to the moon, and then I shall leap at you. I've
talked to you before, old Sun, I've talked to you a million
times, and now I am beginning to remember. Yes--long ago, long
ago, before I had stripped off a few thousand generations, dust
now and forgotten, I was a hairy savage and I pointed my hand at
you and--clearly I remember it!--I saw you in a net. Have you
forgotten that, old Sun? . . .
'Old Sun, I gather myself together out of the pools of the
individual that have held me dispersed so long. I gather my
billion thoughts into science and my million wills into a common
purpose. Well may you slink down behind the mountains from me,
The Last War: A World Set Free |
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 Phantasmagoria and Other Poems by Lewis Carroll: And I've to do it all again -
It's really TOO provoking!
"Don't talk!" he cried, as I began
To mutter some excuse.
"Who can have patience with a man
That's got no more discretion than
An idiotic goose?
"To keep me waiting here, instead
Of telling me at once
That this was not the house!" he said.
"There, that'll do - be off to bed!
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