| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Salammbo by Gustave Flaubert: their cloaks they gave themselves up silently to their sadness.
Those who had been born in towns recalled the resounding streets, the
taverns, theatres, baths, and the barbers' shops where there are tales
to be heard. Others could once more see country districts at sunset,
when the yellow corn waves, and the great oxen ascend the hills again
with the ploughshares on their necks. Travellers dreamed of cisterns,
hunters of their forests, veterans of battles; and in the somnolence
that benumbed them their thoughts jostled one another with the
precipitancy and clearness of dreams. Hallucinations came suddenly
upon them; they sought for a door in the mountain in order to flee,
and tried to pass through it. Others thought that they were sailing in
Salammbo |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Soul of a Bishop by H. G. Wells: wife, the disciple, the lover, who was the last, the most fatal
pitfall on the way to God.
He began to pray, still sitting as he prayed.
"Oh God!" he prayed. "Thou who has shown thyself to me, let me
never forget thee again. Save me from forgetfulness. And show
thyself to those I love; show thyself to all mankind. Use me, O
God, use me; but keep my soul alive. Save me from the presumption
of the trusted servant; save me from the vanity of authority....
"And let thy light shine upon all those who are so dear to
me.... Save them from me. Take their dear loyalty...."
He paused. A flushed, childishly miserable face that stared
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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 Tess of the d'Urbervilles, A Pure Woman by Thomas Hardy: first entirely beyond him. Roaming up and down, round
and round, he at length heard a slight movement of the
horse close at hand; and the sleeve of his overcoat
unexpectedly caught his foot.
"Tess!" said d'Urberville.
There was no answer. The obscurity was now so great
that he could see absolutely nothing but a pale
nebulousness at his feet, which represented the white
muslin figure he had left upon the dead leaves.
Everything else was blackness alike. D'Urberville
stooped; and heard a gentle regular breathing. He
Tess of the d'Urbervilles, A Pure Woman |
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 Complete Angler by Izaak Walton: but doubtless sweet pastes are best; I mean, pastes made with honey or
with sugar: which, that you may the better beguile this crafty fish,
should be thrown into the pond or place in which you fish for him,
some hours, or longer, before you undertake your trial of skill with the
angle-rod; and doubtless, if it be thrown into the water a day or two
before, at several times, and in small pellets, you are the likelier, when
you fish for the Carp, to obtain your desired sport. Or, in a large pond,
to draw them to any certain place, that they may the better and with
more hope be fished for, you are to throw into it, in some certain place,
either grains, or blood mixt with cow-dung or with bran; or any
garbage, as chicken's guts or the like; and then, some of your small
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