| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Ivanhoe by Walter Scott: would have been held _nidering_,'' * (the most emphatic
* There was nothing accounted so ignominious among the
* Saxons as to merit this disgraceful epithet. Even William the
* Conqueror, hated as he was by them, continued to draw a considerable
* army of Anglo-Saxons to his standard, by threatening
* to stigmatize those who staid at home, as nidering. Bartholinus,
* I think, mentions a similar phrase which had like influence on
* the Danes. L. T.
term for abject worthlessness,) ``who should
in his own hall, and while his own wine-cup passed,
have treated, or suffered to be treated, an unoffending
Ivanhoe |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Dust by Mr. And Mrs. Haldeman-Julius: which inspired respect above her station. When Mrs. Wade said
anything, her statement was apt to settle the matter, for on
those subjects which she discussed at all, she was an authority,
and on those which she was not, her training in Martin's
household had taught her to maintain a wise silence. The stern
self-control had stolen something of the tenderness from her
lips. There were other changes. The sunlight had faded from her
hair; the once firm white neck was beginning to lose its
resilience. Deep lines furrowed her cheeks from mouth to jaw, and
fine wrinkles had slipped into her forehead. There were delicate
webs of them about her patient eyes, under which lack of sleep
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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 Thus Spake Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche: that is to be ready also for death. Thus do I speak unto you cowards!
But now doth your emasculated ogling profess to be "contemplation!" And
that which can be examined with cowardly eyes is to be christened
"beautiful!" Oh, ye violators of noble names!
But it shall be your curse, ye immaculate ones, ye pure discerners, that ye
shall never bring forth, even though ye lie broad and teeming on the
horizon!
Verily, ye fill your mouth with noble words: and we are to believe that
your heart overfloweth, ye cozeners?
But MY words are poor, contemptible, stammering words: gladly do I pick up
what falleth from the table at your repasts.
Thus Spake Zarathustra |
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 St. Ives by Robert Louis Stevenson: the lawyer with insulting arrogance.
'Mr. Romaine,' he said, 'since when have you presumed to give
orders in this house?'
'I am not prepared to admit that I have given any,' replied
Romaine; 'certainly none that did not fall in the sphere of my
responsibilities.'
'By whose orders, then, am I denied entrance to my uncle's room?'
said my cousin.
'By the doctor's, sir,' replied Romaine; 'and I think even you will
admit his faculty to give them.'
'Have a care, sir,' cried Alain. 'Do not be puffed up with your
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