| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Mother by Owen Wister: "I told him something. I told him that if it was going to be any story
about--about something I shouldn't like, I should simply follow it with a
story about him that he wouldn't like."
"Ethel! You darling!"
"Oh, yes, and I said I was sure you would all listen, even though I was
not an author myself. And I have it ready, you know, and it's awfully
like Richard, only a different side of him from the burglar one."
"But, my dear, what did he do when you--"
This enquiry was, however, cut short by the entrance of the men. And from
the glance that came from Richard's eyes as they immediately sought out
his wife, Mrs. Davenport knew that he could not have done anything very
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Vailima Prayers & Sabbath Morn by Robert Louis Stevenson: approaching death. I am sure he had no such premonition. It was I
who told the assembled family that I felt an impending disaster
approaching nearer and nearer. Any Scot will understand that my
statement was received seriously. It could not be, we thought,
that danger threatened any one within the house; but Mr. Graham
Balfour, my husband's cousin, very near and dear to us, was away on
a perilous cruise. Our fears followed the various vessels, more or
less unseaworthy, in which he was making his way from island to
island to the atoll where the exiled king, Mataafa, was at that
time imprisoned. In my husband's last prayer, the night before his
death, he asked that we should be given strength to bear the loss
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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 Oedipus Trilogy by Sophocles: Therefore begrudging neither augury
Nor other divination that is thine,
O save thyself, thy country, and thy king,
Save all from this defilement of blood shed.
On thee we rest. This is man's highest end,
To others' service all his powers to lend.
TEIRESIAS
Alas, alas, what misery to be wise
When wisdom profits nothing! This old lore
I had forgotten; else I were not here.
OEDIPUS
Oedipus Trilogy |
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 Caesar's Commentaries in Latin by Julius Caesar: venire possent: has equitibus tribuit. Reliquum exercitum Q. Titurio
Sabino et L. Aurunculeio Cottae legatis in Menapios atque in eos pagos
Morinorum a quibus ad eum legati non venerant ducendum dedit.
P. Sulpicium Rufum legatum cum eo praesidio quod satis esse arbitrabatur
portum tenere iussit.
His constitutis rebus, nactus idoneam ad navigandum tempestatem III.
fere vigilia solvit equitesque in ulteriorem portum progredi et naves
conscendere et se sequi iussit. A quibus cum paulo tardius esset
administratum, ipse hora diei circiter IIII. cum primis navibus
Britanniam attigit atque ibi in omnibus collibus expositas hostium copias
armatas conspexit. Cuius loci haec erat natura atque ita montibus
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