| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte: imagine I was the devil himself, Miss Linton, to excite such
horror. Be so kind as to walk home with him, will you? He
shudders if I touch him.'
'Linton dear!' whispered Catherine, 'I can't go to Wuthering
Heights: papa has forbidden me. He'll not harm you: why are you
so afraid?'
'I can never re-enter that house,' he answered. 'I'm NOT to re-
enter it without you!'
'Stop!' cried his father. 'We'll respect Catherine's filial
scruples. Nelly, take him in, and I'll follow your advice
concerning the doctor, without delay.'
Wuthering Heights |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Dreams by Olive Schreiner: And she took her bosom from his mouth, and he bit her, so that the blood
ran down on to the ground. And she laid him down on the earth; and she
covered her wound. And she bent and stroked his wings. And I saw the hair
on her forehead turned white as snow, and she had changed from youth to
age.
And she stood far off on the bank of the river. And she said, "For what do
I go to this far land which no one has ever reached? Oh, I am alone! I am
utterly alone!"
And Reason, that old man, said to her, "Silence! What do you hear?"
And she listened intently, and she said, "I hear a sound of feet, a
thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands, and they beat this
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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 Lady Baltimore by Owen Wister: "There is such a thing here," I said.
"Oh, Charley'd never make up a thing, and get found out in that way! But
he was lying all the same, old man."
"Do you mean they've run off and got married?"
"What do you take them for? Much more like them to run off and not get
married. But they haven't done that either. And, speaking of that, I
believe I've gone a bit adrift. Your fire-eater, you know--she is an
extraordinary woman!" And Beverly gave his mellow, little humorous
chuckle. "Hanged if I don't begin to think she does fancy him."
"Well!" I cried, "that would explain--no, it wouldn't. Whence comes your
theory?"
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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 In the Cage by Henry James: margin in the cage, when he peeped through the bars, wholly ceased
to be appreciable. It was a drawback only in superficial commerce.
With Captain Everard she had simply the margin of the universe. It
may be imagined therefore how their unuttered reference to all she
knew about him could in this immensity play at its ease. Every
time he handed in a telegram it was an addition to her knowledge:
what did his constant smile mean to mark if it didn't mean to mark
that? He never came into the place without saying to her in this
manner: "Oh yes, you have me by this time so completely at your
mercy that it doesn't in the least matter what I give you now.
You've become a comfort, I assure you!"
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