| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Silverado Squatters by Robert Louis Stevenson: pile of firewood at our door; and if Caliban gave me the cold
shoulder and spared me his conversation, I thought none the
worse of him for that, nor did I find my days much longer for
the deprivation.
The leading spirit of the family was, I am inclined to fancy,
Mrs. Hanson. Her social brilliancy somewhat dazzled the
others, and she had more of the small change of sense. It
was she who faced Kelmar, for instance; and perhaps, if she
had been alone, Kelmar would have had no rule within her
doors. Rufe, to be sure, had a fine, sober, open-air
attitude of mind, seeing the world without exaggeration -
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A House of Pomegranates by Oscar Wilde: shalt be lost with her.'
And he gave him no blessing, but drove him from his door.
And the young Fisherman went down into the market-place, and he
walked slowly, and with bowed head, as one who is in sorrow.
And when the merchants saw him coming, they began to whisper to
each other, and one of them came forth to meet him, and called him
by name, and said to him, 'What hast thou to sell?'
'I will sell thee my soul,' he answered. 'I pray thee buy it of
me, for I am weary of it. Of what use is my soul to me? I cannot
see it. I may not touch it. I do not know it.'
But the merchants mocked at him, and said, 'Of what use is a man's
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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 A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare: Neighing in likenesse of a silly foale,
And sometime lurke I in a Gossips bole,
In very likenesse of a roasted crab:
And when she drinkes, against her lips I bob,
And on her withered dewlop poure the Ale.
The wisest Aunt telling the saddest tale,
Sometime for three-foot stoole, mistaketh me,
Then slip I from her bum, downe topples she,
And tailour cries, and fals into a coffe.
And then the whole quire hold their hips, and loffe,
And waxen in their mirth, and neeze, and sweare,
A Midsummer Night's Dream |
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 Mrs. Warren's Profession by George Bernard Shaw: to mention the money I advanced her. There are not many men who
would have stood by her as I have. I put not less than forty
thousand pounds into it, from first to last.
VIVIE [staring at him] Do you mean to say that you were my
mother's business partner?
CROFTS. Yes. Now just think of all the trouble and the
explanations it would save if we were to keep the whole thing in
the family, so to speak. Ask your mother whether she'd like to
have to explain all her affairs to a perfect stranger.
VIVIE. I see no difficulty, since I understand that the business
is wound up, and the money invested.
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