| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from De Profundis by Oscar Wilde: terrible shock to him, but we are friends, and I have not got his
friendship on false pretences.
Emotional forces, as I say somewhere in INTENTIONS, are as limited
in extent and duration as the forces of physical energy. The
little cup that is made to hold so much can hold so much and no
more, though all the purple vats of Burgundy be filled with wine to
the brim, and the treaders stand knee-deep in the gathered grapes
of the stony vineyards of Spain. There is no error more common
than that of thinking that those who are the causes or occasions of
great tragedies share in the feelings suitable to the tragic mood:
no error more fatal than expecting it of them. The martyr in his
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Somebody's Little Girl by Martha Young: But the lady held still faster to Bessie Bell's hand.
``Oh,'' said Sister Helen Vincula, ``I have a thought! Come to our
cabin with me.''
So they went.
And Bessie Bell walked between Sister Helen Vincula and the lady.
And they each held one of her little pink hands.
When they were at the cabin Sister Helen Vincula opened the old
trunk with the brass tacks on it, and she went down to the very
bottom of it, unpacking as she went. For the old trunk was almost
entirely packed for the going away to-morrow. Then Sister Helen
Vincula took out, from almost the bottom of the trunk, the little
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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 Turn of the Screw by Henry James: a little to bargain. "Very much smaller--?"
"Yes, a mere fraction of the whole. Tell me"--oh, my work preoccupied me,
and I was offhand!--"if, yesterday afternoon, from the table in the hall,
you took, you know, my letter."
XXIV
My sense of how he received this suffered for a minute from something
that I can describe only as a fierce split of my attention--
a stroke that at first, as I sprang straight up, reduced me to
the mere blind movement of getting hold of him, drawing him close,
and, while I just fell for support against the nearest piece
of furniture, instinctively keeping him with his back to the window.
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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 Astoria by Washington Irving: to the midleg, which increased their painful toil. A small beaver
supplied them with a scanty meal, which they eked out with frozen
blackberries, haws, and choke-cherries, which they found in the
course of their scramble. Their journey this day, though
excessively fatiguing, was but thirteen miles; and all the next
day they had to remain encamped, not being able to see half a
mile ahead, on account of a snow-storm. Having nothing else to
eat, they were compelled to kill another of their horses. The
next day they resumed their march in snow and rain, but with all
their efforts could only get forward nine miles, having for a
part of the distance to unload the horses and carry the packs
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