| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Black Beauty by Anna Sewell: and if we never had blinkers put on we should never want them;
we should see what was there, and know what was what,
and be much less frightened than by only seeing bits of things
that we can't understand. Of course there may be some nervous horses
who have been hurt or frightened when they were young,
who may be the better for them; but as I never was nervous, I can't judge."
"I consider," said Sir Oliver, "that blinkers are dangerous things
in the night; we horses can see much better in the dark than men can,
and many an accident would never have happened if horses might have had
the full use of their eyes. Some years ago, I remember,
there was a hearse with two horses returning one dark night,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Aeneid by Virgil: And oft his trembling knees their aid refuse-
Yet, pressing foot by foot, his foe pursues.
Thus, when a fearful stag is clos'd around
With crimson toils, or in a river found,
High on the bank the deep-mouth'd hound appears,
Still opening, following still, where'er he steers;
The persecuted creature, to and fro,
Turns here and there, to scape his Umbrian foe:
Steep is th' ascent, and, if he gains the land,
The purple death is pitch'd along the strand.
His eager foe, determin'd to the chase,
Aeneid |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Beast in the Jungle by Henry James: articulate. "I see--if I don't suffer!"
In her own look, however, was doubt. "You see what?"
"Why what you mean--what you've always meant."
She again shook her head. "What I mean isn't what I've always
meant. It's different."
"It's something new?"
She hung back from it a little. "Something new. It's not what you
think. I see what you think."
His divination drew breath then; only her correction might be
wrong. "It isn't that I AM a blockhead?" he asked between
faintness and grimness. "It isn't that it's all a mistake?"
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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 Adventure by Jack London: identification, noting the hatchet-strokes, and remarking the
distorted expressions. The Poonga-Poonga men gloated as usual, and
as usual the Tahitians were shocked and angry, several of them
cursing and muttering in undertones. So angry was Matapuu, that he
strode suddenly over to the fire-tender and kicked him in the ribs,
whereupon the old savage emitted an appalling squeal, pig-like in
its wild-animal fear, and fell face downward in the ashes and lay
quivering in momentary expectation of death.
Other heads, thoroughly sun-dried and smoke-cured, were found in
abundance, but, with two exceptions, they were the heads of blacks.
So this was the manner of hunting that went on in the dark and evil
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