| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy: I ought not to allow it. Let us drop it. My husband
may be living, as I said."
"Of course, I'll drop the subject if you wish. But
propriety has nothing to do with reasons. I am a
middle-aged man, willing to protect you for the
remainder of our lives. On your side, at least, there
is no passion or blamable haste -- on mine, perhaps,
there is. But I can't help seeing that if you choose
from a feeling of pity, and, as you say, a wish to make
amends, to make a bargain with me for a far-ahead
time -- an agreement which will set all things right
Far From the Madding Crowd |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Dracula by Bram Stoker: in mental equilibrium, are apt to distort causes and effects.
Since I myself have been an inmate of a lunatic asylum, I cannot
but notice that the sophistic tendencies of some of its inmates
lean towards the errors of non causa and ignoratio elenche."
I positively opened my eyes at this new development.
Here was my own pet lunatic, the most pronounced of his type
that I had ever met with, talking elemental philosophy,
and with the manner of a polished gentleman. I wonder if it was
Mrs. Harker's presence which had touched some chord in his memory.
If this new phase was spontaneous, or in any way due to her
unconscious influence, she must have some rare gift or power.
Dracula |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Maitre Cornelius by Honore de Balzac: steps to fetch his dagger, when to his horror, he beheld a vivid light
on the staircase and saw Maitre Cornelius himself in his dalmatian,
carrying a lamp, his eyes open to their fullest extent and fixed upon
the corridor, at the entrance of which he stood like a spectre.
"If I open the window and jump upon the roofs, he will hear me,"
thought the young man.
The terrible old miser advanced, like the hour of death to a criminal.
In this extremity Philippe, instigated by love, recovered his presence
of mind; he slipped into a doorway, pressing himself back into the
angle of it, and awaited the old man. When Cornelius, holding his lamp
in advance of him, came into line with the current of air which the
|
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 Child of Storm by H. Rider Haggard: towards the shore with the weight of the ocean behind it, had suddenly
struck a ridge of rock and, rearing itself up, submerged and hidden it.
At least, within three minutes that Usutu regiment was no more. We had
killed them every one, and from all along our lines rose a fierce
hissing sound of "S'gee, S'gee" ("Zhi" in the Zulu) uttered as the
spears went home in the bodies of the conquered.
That regiment had gone, taking nearly a third of our number with it, for
in such a battle as this the wounded were as good as dead. Practically
our first line had vanished in a fray that did not last more than a few
minutes. Before it was well over the second Usutu regiment sprang up
and charged. With a yell of victory we rushed down the slope towards
Child of Storm |
