| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Extracts From Adam's Diary by Mark Twain: crept down to where the wild-beast battle had been, and collected
some skins, and I made her patch together a couple of suits proper
for public occasions. They are uncomfortable, it is true, but
stylish, and that is the main point about clothes. ... I find
she is a good deal of a companion. I see I should be lonesome and
depressed without her, now that I have lost my property. Another
thing, she says it is ordered that we work for our living hereafter.
She will be useful. I will superintend.
Ten Days Later
She accuses me of being the cause of our disaster! She says, with
apparent sincerity and truth, that the Serpent assured her that
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Lord Arthur Savile's Crime, etc. by Oscar Wilde: accidental.'
'Cyril Graham sacrificed his life to a great Idea,' I answered;
'and if you will not tell of his martyrdom, tell at least of his
faith.'
'His faith,' said Erskine, 'was fixed in a thing that was false, in
a thing that was unsound, in a thing that no Shakespearean scholar
would accept for a moment. The theory would be laughed at. Don't
make a fool of yourself, and don't follow a trail that leads
nowhere. You start by assuming the existence of the very person
whose existence is the thing to be proved. Besides, everybody
knows that the Sonnets were addressed to Lord Pembroke. The matter
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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 Somebody's Little Girl by Martha Young: the little blue-checked-apron girls playing in the sand; and Sister
Ignatius, who cooked the cakes with the caraway seeds in them; and
Sister Theckla, who taught the little girls to Count and to Sing.
Why, the whole world, surely the up-on-the mountain-world, seemed
full of Only-Just-Ladies.
Not just a Lady here and there, coming to visit with hats on, to
talk a little to the Sisters, to look at the little girls with blue
checked aprons on. But here they were coming and going all the
time, moving about, and living in the cabins, walking everywhere
with or without hats on, standing on the gray cliffs, and looking
down--maybe into the heart of a worldwide violet there, off the edge
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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 Salammbo by Gustave Flaubert: furniture, the pearl necklaces trailing on the purple draperies, and
the majestic maiden who was bending over towards him.
He was perhaps ten years old, and was not taller than a Roman sword.
His curly hair shaded his swelling forehead. His eyeballs looked as if
they were seeking for space. The nostrils of his delicate nose were
broad and palpitating, and upon his whole person was displayed the
indefinable splendour of those who are destined to great enterprises.
When he had cast aside his extremely heavy cloak, he remained clad in
a lynx skin, which was fastened about his waist, and he rested his
little naked feet, which were all white with dust, resolutely upon the
pavement. But he no doubt divined that important matters were under
Salammbo |
