| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Fables by Robert Louis Stevenson: was come they were aware of the smoke of the Earl's town and the
bells of the Kirk that beat. So they set foot to shore; and the
man went up to the market among the fishers over against the palace
and the Kirk; and he was bitter poor and bitter ugly, and he had
never a fish to sell, but only a shoe of a horse in his creel, and
it rusty.
"Now," said the Poor Thing, "do so and so, and you shall find a
wife and I a mother."
It befell that the Earl's daughter came forth to go into the Kirk
upon her prayers; and when she saw the poor man stand in the market
with only the shoe of a horse, and it rusty, it came in her mind 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 Iron Puddler by James J. Davis: knew as much about the tin plate business as any man in the
trade. This knowledge would enable me to do better in the
distributing end of the business, while as a worker I could only
make the union wages that all the fellows were getting. This gave
me an idea that has since become the dominating purpose of my
life. Handicraft is the basis of the best schooling. By working
with my hands as well as with my head I learned the actual cost
of production of every kind of plate they put out. This was
something that I could not have learned from books. Without such
knowledge the business would have to be run partly on guesswork.
With a thorough knowledge of the production end of the business I
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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 Confessio Amantis by John Gower: And of the Bisschop ek also,
Wher thei the qweene hadden do.
And thei answerde, there he bad,
And have him thilke lettre rad,
Which he hem sende for warant,
And tolde him pleinli as it stant,
And sein, it thoghte hem gret pite
To se so worthi on as sche, 1240
With such a child as ther was bore,
So sodeinly to be forlore.
He axeth hem what child that were;
Confessio Amantis |
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 Adam Bede by George Eliot: weekdays; but I daresay, if your old friend Mr. Irwine were to
come to life again, and get into the pulpit next Sunday, you would
be rather ashamed that he didn't preach better after all your
praise of him."
"Nay, nay," said Adam, broadening his chest and throwing himself
back in his chair, as if he were ready to meet all inferences,
"nobody has ever heard me say Mr. Irwine was much of a preacher.
He didn't go into deep speritial experience; and I know there s a
deal in a man's inward life as you can't measure by the square,
and say, 'Do this and that 'll follow,' and, 'Do that and this 'll
follow.' There's things go on in the soul, and times when
Adam Bede |
