| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Poems by Bronte Sisters: Blood-red, he rose, and, arrow-straight,
His fierce beams struck my brow;
The soul of nature sprang, elate,
But mine sank sad and low!
My lids closed down, yet through their veil
I saw him, blazing, still,
And steep in gold the misty dale,
And flash upon the hill.
I turned me to the pillow, then,
To call back night, and see
Your worlds of solemn light, again,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tono Bungay by H. G. Wells: myself without an object to hold my will together. I sought. I
read restlessly and discursively. I tried Ewart and got no help
from him. As I regard it all now in this retrospect, it seems to
me as if in those days of disgust and abandoned aims I discovered
myself for the first time. Before that I had seen only the world
and things in it, had sought them self-forgetful of all but my
impulse. Now I found myself GROUPED with a system of
appetites and satisfactions, with much work to do--and no desire,
it seemed, left in me.
There were moments when I thought of suicide. At times my life
appeared before me in bleak, relentless light, a series of
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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 Tales of the Klondyke by Jack London: Vanderlip?" Mrs. Eppingwell's voice, though flute-like and low,
predicated will in its every cadence.
The man looked his gratitude. He, at least, was willing enough.
"I'm very sorry," from Freda. "There isn't time. He must come at
once." The conventional phrases dropped easily from her lips, but
she could not forbear to smile inwardly at their inadequacy and
weakness. She would much rather have shrieked.
"But, Miss Moloof, who are you that you may possess yourself of
Mr. Vanderlip and command his actions?"
Whereupon relief brightened his face, and the man beamed his
approval. Trust Mrs. Eppingwell to drag him clear. Freda had met
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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 Chronicles of the Canongate by Walter Scott: For me, I was no Highlander myself, and the Highland chiefs of
old, of whom I certainly knew several, had little in their
manners to distinguish them from the Lowland gentry, when they
mixed in society in Edinburgh, and assumed the Lowland dress.
Their peculiar character was for the clansmen at home; and you
must not imagine that they swaggered about in plaids and
broadswords at the Cross, or came to the Assembly Rooms in
bonnets and kilts."
"I remember," said I, "that Swift, in his Journal, tells Stella
he had dined in the house of a Scots nobleman, with two Highland
chiefs, whom he had found as well-bred men as he had ever met
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