| 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: been buried for a long time was waking up again.
"They sent me in to wait on Mr. Beresford. (Of course I didn't
know his name then.) I was suspicious--I thought it was another
trap. But he looked so honest, I could hardly believe it.
However, I was careful in all I said, for I knew we could be
overheard. There's a small hole, high up in the wall.
"But on the Sunday afternoon a message was brought to the house.
They were all very disturbed. Without their knowing, I listened.
Word had come that he was to be killed. I needn't tell the next
part, because you know it. I thought I'd have time to rush up
and get the papers from their hiding-place, but I was caught. So
Secret Adversary |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Garden Party by Katherine Mansfield: let's talk about it."
"But you're not to. You couldn't leave me. You couldn't not be there."
This was awful. "Promise me you won't ever do it, grandma," pleaded Kezia.
The old woman went on knitting.
"Promise me! Say never!"
But still her grandma was silent.
Kezia rolled off her bed; she couldn't bear it any longer, and lightly she
leapt on to her grandma's knees, clasped her hands round the old woman's
throat and began kissing her, under the chin, behind the ear, and blowing
down her neck.
"Say never...say never...say never--" She gasped between the kisses. And
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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 Edition of The Ambassadors by Henry James: her marked thin-lipped smile, intense without brightness and as
prompt to act as the scrape of a safety-match; the protrusion of
her rather remarkably long chin, which in her case represented
invitation and urbanity, and not, as in most others, pugnacity and
defiance; the penetration of her voice to a distance, the general
encouragement and approval of her manner, were all elements with
which intercourse had made him familiar, but which he noted today
almost as if she had been a new acquaintance. This first glimpse of
her had given a brief but vivid accent to her resemblance to her
mother; he could have taken her for Mrs. Newsome while she met his
eyes as the train rolled into the station. It was an impression
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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 The Poems of Goethe, Bowring, Tr. by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Through the crowds of the people who spend their lifetime in walking."
Partially comforted, then his neighbour mounted the carriage,
Sitting like one prepared to make a wise jump, if needs be,
And the stallions, eager to reach their stables, coursed homewards,
While beneath their powerful hoofs the dust rose in thick clouds.
Long there stood the youth, and saw the dust rise before him,
Saw the dust disperse; but still he stood there, unthinking.
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VII. ERATO.
DOROTHEA.
As the man on a journey, who, just at the moment of sunset,
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