| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Twice Told Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne: The above-mentioned individuals had been sentenced to undergo
their various modes of ignominy, for the space of one hour at
noonday. But among the crowd were several whose punishment would
be life-long; some, whose ears had been cropped, like those of
puppy dogs; others, whose cheeks had been branded with the
initials of their misdemeanors; one, with his nostrils slit and
seared; and another, with a halter about his neck, which he was
forbidden ever to take off, or to conceal beneath his garments.
Methinks he must have been grievously tempted to affix the other
end of the rope to some convenient beam or bough. There was
likewise a young woman, with no mean share of beauty, whose doom
Twice Told Tales |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Critias by Plato: and may be compared to the similar discussions regarding the Lost Tribes (2
Esdras), as showing how the chance word of some poet or philosopher has
given birth to endless religious or historical enquiries. (See
Introduction to the Timaeus.)
In contrasting the small Greek city numbering about twenty thousand
inhabitants with the barbaric greatness of the island of Atlantis, Plato
probably intended to show that a state, such as the ideal Athens, was
invincible, though matched against any number of opponents (cp. Rep.).
Even in a great empire there might be a degree of virtue and justice, such
as the Greeks believed to have existed under the sway of the first Persian
kings. But all such empires were liable to degenerate, and soon incurred
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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 Human Drift by Jack London: Virginia or a lean Cantonese contracting to labour on the sugar
plantations of Hawaii, in each case, gentleman and coolie, it is a
desperate attempt to get something to eat, to get more to eat than
he can get at home.
It has always been so, from the time of the first pre-human
anthropoid crossing a mountain-divide in quest of better berry-
bushes beyond, down to the latest Slovak, arriving on our shores
to-day, to go to work in the coal-mines of Pennsylvania. These
migratory movements of peoples have been called drifts, and the
word is apposite. Unplanned, blind, automatic, spurred on by the
pain of hunger, man has literally drifted his way around the
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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 Royalty Restored/London Under Charles II by J. Fitzgerald Molloy: recounting Tonge's statements to the king, his majesty was more
convinced than before the narrative was wholly without
foundation, and refused to make it known to his council or the
Duke of York. Therefore the lord-treasurer, on conclusion of a
brief visit, left Windsor for his country residence, situated at
Wimbledon.
For some days no fresh disclosure was made concerning this horrid
plot, until late one night, when Dr. Tonge arrived in great haste
at Lord Danby's house, and informed him some of the intended
regicides had resolved on journeying to Windsor next morning,
determined to assassinate the king. He added, it was in his
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