| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Moran of the Lady Letty by Frank Norris: ready in the waist, and the lazy indolence of the previous week
was replaced by an extraordinary activity.
The day after their arrival in the bay was occupied by all hands
in catching bait. This bait was a kind of rock-fish, of a
beautiful red gold color, and about the size of an ordinary cod.
They bit readily enough, but out of every ten hooked three were
taken off the lines by the sharks before they could be brought
aboard. Another difficulty lay in the fact that, either because
of the excessive heat in the air or the percentage of alkali in
the water, they spoiled almost immediately if left in the air.
Turtle were everywhere--floating gray-green disks just under the
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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 Golden Threshold by Sarojini Naidu: Shalt thou be conquered of a human fate
My liege, my lover, whose imperial head
Hath never bent in sorrow of defeat?
Shalt thou be vanquished, whose imperial feet
Have shattered armies and stamped empires dead?
Who shall unking thee, husband of a queen?
Wear thou thy majesty inviolate.
Earth's glories flee of human eyes unseen,
Earth's kingdoms fade to a remembered dream,
But thine henceforth shall be a power supreme,
Dazzling command and rich dominion,
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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 My Antonia by Willa Cather: all you want to, but if I see you hanging round with Lena much,
I'll go to your grandmother, as sure as your name's Jim Burden!
Lena's all right, only--well, you know yourself she's soft that way.
She can't help it. It's natural to her.'
If she was proud of me, I was so proud of her that I carried
my head high as I emerged from the dark cedars and shut
the Cutters' gate softly behind me. Her warm, sweet face,
her kind arms, and the true heart in her; she was, oh, she was
still my Antonia! I looked with contempt at the dark,
silent little houses about me as I walked home, and thought
of the stupid young men who were asleep in some of them.
My Antonia |
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 Woman and Labour by Olive Schreiner: happiness, and health, and in which its peculiar faculties and gifts shall
be most effectively and beneficially exerted for its fellows.
It matters nothing, and less than nothing, to us as women, whether, of
those children we bring into the world, our sons should excel in virtue,
intelligence, and activity, our daughters, or our daughters our sons; so
that, in each child we bring to life, not one potentiality shall be lost,
nor squandered on a lesser when it might have been expended on a higher and
more beneficent task. So that not one desirable faculty of the marvellous
creatures we suffer to bring into existence be left uncultivated, to us, as
women, it matters nothing and less than nothing, which sex type excels in
action, in knowledge, or in virtue, so both attain their best. There is
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