| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift: "3d, The said man-mountain shall confine his walks to our
principal high roads, and not offer to walk, or lie down, in a
meadow or field of corn.
"4th, As he walks the said roads, he shall take the utmost care
not to trample upon the bodies of any of our loving subjects,
their horses, or carriages, nor take any of our subjects into his
hands without their own consent.
"5th, If an express requires extraordinary despatch, the
man-mountain shall be obliged to carry, in his pocket, the
messenger and horse a six days journey, once in every moon, and
return the said messenger back (if so required) safe to our
Gulliver's Travels |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Falk by Joseph Conrad: of a female in strange draperies, an elderly, squat,
rugged man of stern aspect in a clumsy suit of black
broadcloth, and with the hair brushed forward above
the temples in a manner reminding one of a boar's
tusks. Of a fiddle, however, the only trace on board
was the case, its empty husk as it were; but of the
two last freights the ship had indubitably earned
of late, there were not even the husks left. It was
impossible to say where all that money had gone to.
It wasn't on board. It had not been remitted home;
for a letter from the owners, preserved in a desk
Falk |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Crisis in Russia by Arthur Ransome: 1915 her own production of these things had fallen to 15.1
per cent. of her already inadequate peacetime output. In
1917 it had fallen to 2.1 per cent. The Soviet Government
is making efforts to raise it, and is planning new factories
exclusively for the making of these things. But, with
transport in such a condition, a new factory means
merely a new demand for material and fuel which there are
neither engines nor wagons to bring. Meanwhile, all over
Russia, spades are worn out, men are plowing with burnt
staves instead of with plowshares, scratching the surface of
the ground, and instead of harrowing with a steel-spiked
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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 Intentions by Oscar Wilde: never less free than when we try to act. It has hemmed us round
with the nets of the hunter, and written upon the wall the prophecy
of our doom. We may not watch it, for it is within us. We may not
see it, save in a mirror that mirrors the soul. It is Nemesis
without her mask. It is the last of the Fates, and the most
terrible. It is the only one of the Gods whose real name we know.
And yet, while in the sphere of practical and external life it has
robbed energy of its freedom and activity of its choice, in the
subjective sphere, where the soul is at work, it comes to us, this
terrible shadow, with many gifts in its hands, gifts of strange
temperaments and subtle susceptibilities, gifts of wild ardours and
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