| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Trooper Peter Halket of Mashonaland by Olive Schreiner: his soul; but the stranger prevented him.
"Peter Simon Halket," he said, "is it the trumpet which gives forth the
call to battle, whether it be battered tin or gilded silver, which boots?
Is it not the call? What and if I should send my message by a woman or a
child: shall truth be less truth because the bearer is despised? Is it
the mouth that speaks or the word that is spoken which is eternal?
Nevertheless, if you will have it so, go, and say, 'I, Peter Halket, sinner
among you all, who have desired women and gold, who have loved myself and
hated my fellow, I--'" The stranger looked down at him, and placed his
hand gently on his head. "Peter Simon Halket," he said, "a harder task I
give you than any which has been laid upon you. In that small spot where
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Intentions by Oscar Wilde: She is a veil, rather than a mirror. She has flowers that no
forests know of, birds that no woodland possesses. She makes and
unmakes many worlds, and can draw the moon from heaven with a
scarlet thread. Hers are the "forms more real than living man,"
and hers the great archetypes of which things that have existence
are but unfinished copies. Nature has, in her eyes, no laws, no
uniformity. She can work miracles at her will, and when she calls
monsters from the deep they come. She can bid the almond-tree
blossom in winter, and send the snow upon the ripe cornfield. At
her word the frost lays its silver finger on the burning mouth of
June, and the winged lions creep out from the hollows of the Lydian
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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 Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia by Samuel Johnson: consider that in the same shade I once disputed upon the annual
overflow of the Nile with a friend who is now silent in the grave.
I cast my eyes upwards, fix them on the changing moon, and think
with pain on the vicissitudes of life. I have ceased to take much
delight in physical truth; for what have I to do with those things
which I am soon to leave?"
"You may at least recreate yourself," said Imlac, "with the
recollection of an honourable and useful life, and enjoy the praise
which all agree to give you."
"Praise," said the sage with a sigh, "is to an old man an empty
sound. I have neither mother to be delighted with the reputation
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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 Margret Howth: A Story of To-day by Rebecca Harding Davis: some vow. He whined, but she hurried away, not waiting to know
how he came, or with whom. Perhaps, if Dr. Knowles had seen her
face as she looked back at him, he would have thought there were
depths in her nature which his probing eyes had never reached.
The wheels came close, and directly a cart stopped at the gate.
It was one of those little wagons that hucksters drive; only this
seemed to be a home-made affair, patched up with wicker-work and
bits of board. It was piled up with baskets of vegetables, eggs,
and chickens, and on a broken bench in the middle sat the driver,
a woman. You could not help laughing, when you looked at the
whole turn-out, it had such a make-shift look altogether. The
Margret Howth: A Story of To-day |
