| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen: "Grandmother!" cried the little one. "Oh, take me with you! You go away when
the match burns out; you vanish like the warm stove, like the delicious roast
goose, and like the magnificent Christmas tree!" And she rubbed the whole
bundle of matches quickly against the wall, for she wanted to be quite sure of
keeping her grandmother near her. And the matches gave such a brilliant light
that it was brighter than at noon-day: never formerly had the grandmother been
so beautiful and so tall. She took the little maiden, on her arm, and both
flew in brightness and in joy so high, so very high, and then above was
neither cold, nor hunger, nor anxiety--they were with God.
But in the corner, at the cold hour of dawn, sat the poor girl, with rosy
cheeks and with a smiling mouth, leaning against the wall--frozen to death on
Fairy Tales |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad: "No! I haven't," said Mr Verloc softly, and slammed the glazed
parlour door behind him with unexpected energy.
For some time Mrs Verloc remained quiescent, with her work dropped
in her lap, before she put it away under the counter and got up to
light the gas. This done, she went into the parlour on her way to
the kitchen. Mr Verloc would want his tea presently. Confident of
the power of her charms, Winnie did not expect from her husband in
the daily intercourse of their married life a ceremonious amenity
of address and courtliness of manner; vain and antiquated forms at
best, probably never very exactly observed, discarded nowadays even
in the highest spheres, and always foreign to the standards of her
The Secret Agent |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald: could enter the labyrinth as stark souls; there were on the other
hand sword-like pioneering personalities, Samuel Butler, Renan,
Voltaire, who progressed much slower, yet eventually much
further, not in the direct pessimistic line of speculative
philosophy but concerned in the eternal attempt to attach a
positive value to life....
Amory stopped. He began for the first time in his life to have a
strong distrust of all generalities and epigrams. They were too
easy, too dangerous to the public mind. Yet all thought usually
reached the public after thirty years in some such form: Benson
and Chesterton had popularized Huysmans and Newman; Shaw had
This Side of Paradise |
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 Glinda of Oz by L. Frank Baum: groaning noise it moved upward -- slowly, very slowly,
but with a steady motion, while all the company stood
by in awed silence. It was a wonderful thing, even to
those skilled in the arts of magic, wizardry and
sorcery, to realize that a single word could raise that
great, heavy island, with its immense glass Dome.
"Why, we're way above the lake now!" exclaimed
Dorothy from the window, when at last the island ceased
to move.
"That is because we lowered the level of the water,"
explained Glinda.
Glinda of Oz |
