| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Mistress Wilding by Rafael Sabatini: no doubt be sending to Whitehall; and this mad fellow thundering after
them seemed in a fair way to mar their plan. As they reluctantly
passed the spot they had marked out for their ambush, splashed
through the ford and breasted the rising ground beyond, they took
counsel. They determined to stand and meet this rash pursuer.
Trenchard calmly opined that if necessary they must shoot him; he was,
I fear, a bloody-minded fellow at bottom, although, it is true he
justified himself now by pointing out that this was no time to
hesitate at trifles. Partly because they talked and partly because
the gradient was steep and their horses needed breathing, they
slackened rein, and the horseman behind them came tearing through 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 When the World Shook by H. Rider Haggard: far apart, while between you and him flow wide seas of death,
wherein are set islands of life; perhaps many of them. But I
remember much who seem to have left him but a very little while
ago."
"When you awoke in your coffin and threw your arms about me,
what did you think, Yva?"
"I thought you were that man, Humphrey."
There was silence between us and in that silence the truth came
home to me. Then there before the effigy of Fate and in the
desolate, glowing temple we plighted anew our troth made holy by
a past. that thus so wonderfully lived again.
When the World Shook |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Oedipus Trilogy by Sophocles: The vestibule, she hurried straight to win
The bridal-chamber, clutching at her hair
With both her hands, and, once within the room,
She shut the doors behind her with a crash.
"Laius," she cried, and called her husband dead
Long, long ago; her thought was of that child
By him begot, the son by whom the sire
Was murdered and the mother left to breed
With her own seed, a monstrous progeny.
Then she bewailed the marriage bed whereon
Poor wretch, she had conceived a double brood,
Oedipus Trilogy |
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 Research Magnificent by H. G. Wells: common topics narrowed down very abruptly. He found he could help
her in several ways. There is, unhappily, a disposition on the part
of many people, who ought to know better, to regard a role played by
Joseph during his earlier days in Egypt as a ridiculous one. This
point of view became very inopportunely dominant in Benham's mind
when he was lunching TETE A TETE with Mrs. Skelmersdale at her
flat. . . .
The ensuing intimacy was of an entirely concealed and respectable
nature, but a certain increased preoccupation in his manner set Lady
Marayne thinking. He had as a matter of fact been taken by surprise.
Still he perceived that it is no excuse for a man that he has been
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