| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Tales of the Klondyke by Jack London: "Who is a daughter of Belial and hearkeneth not to the true
Gospel."
"And myself. Not only do you bring trouble upon yourself, but
upon us. I was frozen in with you last winter, as you will well
recollect, and I know you for a good man and a fool. If you think
it your duty to strive with the heathen, well and good; but, do
exercise some wit in the way you go about it. This man, Red
Baptiste, is no Indian. He comes of our common stock, is as bull-
necked as I ever dared be, and as wild a fanatic the one way as
you are the other. When you two come together, hell'll be to pay,
and I don't care to be mixed up in it. Understand? So take my
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Alkahest by Honore de Balzac: with India poured into it the grotesque designs of China and the
marvels of Japan.
And yet, in spite of its patience in gathering such treasures, its
tenacity in parting with no possession once gained, its endurance of
all things, Flanders was considered nothing more than the general
storehouse of Europe, until the day when the discovery of tobacco
brought into one smoky outline the scattered features of its national
physiognomy. Thenceforth, and notwithstanding the parcelling out of
their territory, the Flemings became a people homogeneous through
their pipes and beer.[*]
[*] Flanders was parcelled into three divisions; of which Eastern
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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 Time Machine by H. G. Wells: heat, and blundering hither and thither against each other in
their bewilderment. At first I did not realize their blindness,
and struck furiously at them with my bar, in a frenzy of fear, as
they approached me, killing one and crippling several more. But
when I had watched the gestures of one of them groping under the
hawthorn against the red sky, and heard their moans, I was
assured of their absolute helplessness and misery in the glare,
and I struck no more of them.
`Yet every now and then one would come straight towards me,
setting loose a quivering horror that made me quick to elude him.
At one time the flames died down somewhat, and I feared the foul
The Time Machine |
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 On Revenues by Xenophon: possess the finest and safest harbourage for shipping, where vessels
of all sorts can come to moorings and be laid up in absolute
security[1] as far as stress of weather is concerned. But further than
that, in most states the trader is under the necessity of lading his
vessel with some merchandise[2] or other in exchange for his cargo,
since the current coin[3] has no circulation beyond the frontier. But
at Athens he has a choice: he can either in return for his wares
export a variety of goods, such as human beings seek after, or, if he
does not desire to take goods in exchange for goods, he has simply to
export silver, and he cannot have a more excellent freight to export,
since wherever he likes to sell it he may look to realise a large
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