| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie: "No, sir, I do not," returned the young American with emphasis.
"Not as such, that is to say. I reckon it out that he's a
figurehead--just a bogy name to frighten the children with. The
real head of this business is that Russian chap Kramenin. I
guess he's quite capable of running revolutions in three
countries at once if he chose! The man Whittington is probably
the head of the English branch."
"I disagree with you," said Sir James shortly. "Mr. Brown
exists." He turned to Tommy. "Did you happen to notice where
that wire was handed in?"
"No, sir, I'm afraid I didn't."
Secret Adversary |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Rape of Lucrece by William Shakespeare: Till life to death acquit my forced offence.
'I will not poison thee with my attaint,
Nor fold my fault in cleanly-coin'd excuses;
My sable ground of sin I will not paint,
To hide the truth of this false night's abuses;
My tongue shall utter all; mine eyes, like sluices,
As from a mountain-spring that feeds a dale,
Shall gush pure streams to purge my impure tale.'
By this; lamenting Philomel had ended
The well-tun'd warble of her nightly sorrow,
And solemn night with slow-sad gait descended
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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 Ancient Regime by Charles Kingsley: An extension of the suffrage, however wide, will not bring about the
millennium. It will merely make a large number of Englishmen
contented and loyal, instead of discontented and disloyal. It may
make, too, the educated and wealthy classes wiser by awakening a
wholesome fear--perhaps, it may be, by awakening a chivalrous
emulation. It may put the younger men of the present aristocracy
upon their mettle, and stir them up to prove that they are not in
the same effete condition as was the French noblesse in 1789. It
may lead them to take the warnings which have been addressed to
them, for the last thirty years, by their truest friends--often by
kinsmen of their own. It may lead them to ask themselves why, in a
|
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 First Men In The Moon by H. G. Wells: descended towards constantly more luminous caverns of the moon. At first
they descended in silence - save for the twitterings of the Selenites -
and then into a stir of windy movement. In a little while the profound
blackness had made his eyes so sensitive that he began to see more and
more of the things about him, and at last the vague took shape.
"Conceive an enormous cylindrical space," says Cavor, in his seventh
message, " a quarter of a mile across, perhaps; very dimly lit at first
and then brighter, with big platforms twisting down its sides in a spiral
that vanishes at last below in a blue profundity; and lit even more
brightly - one could not tell how or why. Think of the well of the very
largest spiral staircase or lift-shaft that you have ever looked down, and
The First Men In The Moon |
