| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Chinese Boy and Girl by Isaac Taylor Headland: Nor while I crossed the ferry feared,
Or wind or rain or night.
The child's eyes sparkled as he turned to some of those
illustrating children at play, and as he constructed one which
represents two children swinging their arms and running,
he repeated:
See the children at their
play,
Gathering flowers by the
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Fables by Robert Louis Stevenson: "Now, thanks be to God," said the elder son, "I have found the
touchstone; and now I may turn my reins, and ride home to the King
and to the maid of the dun that makes my mouth to sing and my heart
enlarge."
Now when he came to the dun, he saw children playing by the gate
where the King had met him in the old days; and this stayed his
pleasure, for he thought in his heart, "It is here my children
should be playing". And when he came into the hall, there was his
brother on the high seat and the maid beside him; and at that his
anger rose, for he thought in his heart, "It is I that should be
sitting there, and the maid beside me".
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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 Faith of Men by Jack London: MacPherson, as companionable a man as ever whistled along the trail
or raised a ballad by a camp-fire. A Jesuit priest had run into
his camp, a couple of hundred miles up the Yukon, in the nick of
time to say a last word over the body of Sandy's partner. And on
departing, the priest had said, "My son, you will be lonely now."
And Sandy had bowed his head brokenly. "At Twenty Mile," the
priest added, "there is a lonely man. You have need of each other,
my son."
So it was that Sandy became a welcome third at the post, brother to
the man and woman that resided there. He took Bonner moose-hunting
and wolf-trapping; and, in return, Bonner resurrected a battered
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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 Voyage to Abyssinia by Father Lobo: same amongst the women, whom we separated from the men. We then
confessed them, and admitted them to the communion. After mass we
applied ourselves again to catechise, to instruct, and receive the
renunciation of their errors, scarce allowing ourselves time to make
a scanty meal, which we never did more than once a day.
After some time had been spent here, we removed to another town not
far distant, and continued the same practice. Here I was accosted
one day by an inhabitant of that place, where he had found the
people so prejudiced against us, who desired to be admitted to
confession. I could not forbear asking him some questions about
those lamentations, which we heard upon our entering into that
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