The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Mrs. Warren's Profession by George Bernard Shaw: FRANK. Viv: theres a freemasonry among thoroughly immoral people
that you know nothing of. Youve too much character. T h a t s
the bond between your mother and me: thats why I know her better
than youll ever know her.
VIVIE. You are wrong: you know nothing about her. If you knew
the circumstances against which my mother had to struggle--
FRANK [adroitly finishing the sentence for her] I should know why
she is what she is, shouldnt I? What difference would that make?
Circumstances or no circumstances, Viv, you wont be able to stand
your mother.
VIVIE [very angry] Why not?
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Aesop's Fables by Aesop: "I don't care," snarled the Wolf; "if it was not you it was
your father;" and with that he rushed upon the poor little Lamb
and
.WARRA WARRA WARRA WARRA WARRA
.ate her all up. But before she died she gasped out
."Any excuse will serve a tyrant."
The Dog and the Shadow
It happened that a Dog had got a piece of meat and was
carrying it home in his mouth to eat it in peace. Now on his way
home he had to cross a plank lying across a running brook. As he
crossed, he looked down and saw his own shadow reflected in the
 Aesop's Fables |
The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from 1492 by Mary Johntson: it.
But they swam, they rowed their canoes, they hunted in
their not arduous fashion, they roved afar in their country
at peace, and they danced. That last was their fair, their
games, their tourney, their pilgrimage, their processions to
church, their attendance at mass, their expression of anything
else that they felt altogether and at once! It was like
children's play, renewed forever, and forever with zest. But
they did not treat it as play. We had been showed dances
in Concepcion and Isabella, but here in Cuba, in this inland
town, Jerez and Luis and I were given to see a great and
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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 The Cavalry General by Xenophon: himself equally intelligent with creatures which themselves fall
victims to the craft of man.
[19] e.g. defiles, bridges, outposts, stores, etc.
[20] e.g. a line of outposts, troops in billets or bivouac, etc.
[21] "It is a maxim, the quarry should be weaker than the pursuer."
[22] Zeune cf. Ael. "N. A." viii. 14, on the skill of wolves in
hunting.
[23] For {aposphaxas} Courier suggests {apospasas}, "dragging off what
he can."
V
Here is another matter which every horseman ought to know, and that is
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