| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Somebody's Little Girl by Martha Young: hand, ``you see, you do look something like a Sister,--but,'' said
Bessie Bell, ``I believe you do look more like a Mama.''
``Little girl,'' said the lady, ``what do you mean?''
And she still looked as if she might cry.
``Yes,'' said Bessie Bell, for she had begun to think very hard,
``Alice has a mama. Robbie has a mama. Lucy has a mama. Everybody
has a mama. Never mind, Bessie Bell will find a mama--''
``Little girl,'' said the lady, ``why do you say, Bessie Bell--?''
When the lady said that it seemed to Bessie Bell that she heard
something sweet--something away off beyond what the band was
playing, so she just clapped her hands and laughed out loud, and
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells: hundred yards out of Baker Street I heard a yelping chorus,
and saw, first a dog with a piece of putrescent red meat in
his jaws coming headlong towards me, and then a pack of
starving mongrels in pursuit of him. He made a wide curve
to avoid me, as though he feared I might prove a fresh
competitor. As the yelping died away down the silent road,
the wailing sound of "Ulla, ulla, ulla, ulla," reasserted itself.
I came upon the wrecked handling-machine halfway to
St. John's Wood station. At first I thought a house had fallen
across the road. It was only as I clambered among the ruins
that I saw, with a start, this mechanical Samson lying, with
War of the Worlds |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Straightway from the Shining Wigwam
Came the mighty Megissogwon,
Tall of stature, broad of shoulder,
Dark and terrible in aspect,
Clad from head to foot in wampum,
Armed with all his warlike weapons,
Painted like the sky of morning,
Streaked with crimson, blue, and yellow,
Crested with great eagle-feathers,
Streaming upward, streaming outward.
"Well I know you, Hiawatha!"
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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 A Sentimental Journey by Laurence Sterne: my head. In saying this, I was making not so much La Fleur's eloge
as my own, having been in love with one princess or another almost
all my life, and I hope I shall go on so till I die, being firmly
persuaded, that if ever I do a mean action, it must be in some
interval betwixt one passion and another: whilst this interregnum
lasts, I always perceive my heart locked up, - I can scarce find in
it to give Misery a sixpence; and therefore I always get out of it
as fast as I can - and the moment I am rekindled, I am all
generosity and good-will again; and would do anything in the world,
either for or with any one, if they will but satisfy me there is no
sin in it.
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