| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Woman and Labour by Olive Schreiner: existence of inactivity had robbed her of all joy in strenuous exertion and
endurance in any form. Finely clad, tenderly housed, life became for her
merely the gratification of her own physical and sexual appetites, and the
appetites of the male, through the stimulation of which she could maintain
herself. And, whether as kept wife, kept mistress, or prostitute, she
contributed nothing to the active and sustaining labours of her society.
She had attained to the full development of that type which, whether in
modern Paris or New York or London, or in ancient Greece, Assyria, or Rome,
is essentially one in its features, its nature, and its results. She was
the "fine lady," the human female parasite - the most deadly microbe which
can make its appearance on the surface of any social organism. (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 The Riverman by Stewart Edward White: stayed with the drive to its finish, and proved reliable and
tractable in every particular. Orde scattered them judiciously, so
there was no friction with the local men. The Rough Red he retained
on the rear.
Here the breaking of the rollways had reached a stage more exciting
both to onlooker and participant than the mere opening of the river
channel. Huge stacks of logs piled sidewise to the bank lined the
stream for miles. When the lowermost log on the river side was
teased and pried out, the upper tiers were apt to cascade down with
a roar, a crash, and a splash. The man who had done the prying had
to be very quick-eyed, very cool, and very agile to avoid being
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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 Two Noble Kinsmen by William Shakespeare: 1. QUEEN.
O, I hope some God,
Some God hath put his mercy in your manhood
Whereto heel infuse powre, and presse you forth
Our undertaker.
THESEUS.
O no knees, none, Widdow,
Vnto the Helmeted Belona use them,
And pray for me your Souldier.
Troubled I am. [turnes away.]
2. QUEEN.
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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 The Island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. Wells: a growing disinclination to talk. My Monkey-man's jabber multiplied
in volume but grew less and less comprehensible, more and more simian.
Some of the others seemed altogether slipping their hold upon speech,
though they still understood what I said to them at that time.
(Can you imagine language, once clear-cut and exact, softening and
guttering, losing shape and import, becoming mere limps of sound again?)
And they walked erect with an increasing difficulty. Though they
evidently felt ashamed of themselves, every now and then I would come
upon one or another running on toes and finger-tips, and quite unable
to recover the vertical attitude. They held things more clumsily;
drinking by suction, feeding by gnawing, grew commoner every day.
The Island of Doctor Moreau |
