| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from In a German Pension by Katherine Mansfield: handkerchiefs, eau de Cologne, toothpicks, and a certain woollen muffler
very comforting to the "magen," samples of her skill in candle-making, to
be offered up as tokens of thanksgiving when her holiday time was over.
Four of the clock one July afternoon she appeared at the Pension Muller. I
was sitting in the arbour and watched her bustling up the path followed by
the red-bearded porter with her dress-basket in his arms and a sunflower
between his teeth. The widow and her five innocent daughters stood
tastefully grouped upon the steps in appropriate attitudes of welcome; and
the greetings were so long and loud that I felt a sympathetic glow.
"What a journey!" cried the Frau Fischer. "And nothing to eat in the
train--nothing solid. I assure you the sides of my stomach are flapping
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Historical Lecturers and Essays by Charles Kingsley: well, may be reduced to two heads. 1st. The letters and sonnets
were forgeries. Maitland of Lethington may have forged the letters;
Buchanan, according to some, the sonnets. Whoever forged them,
Buchanan made use of them in his Detection, knowing them to be
forged. 2nd. Whether Mary was innocent or not, Buchanan acted a
base and ungrateful part in putting himself in the forefront amongst
her accusers. He had been her tutor, her pensioner. She had heaped
him with favours; and, after all, she was his queen, and a
defenceless woman: and yet he returned her kindness, in the hour
of her fall, by invectives fit only for a rancorous and reckless
advocate, determined to force a verdict by the basest arts of
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Scarecrow of Oz by L. Frank Baum: Trot rode with more comfort than she had expected,
although the swing swayed so much that she had to hold on
tight with both hands. Cap'n Bill's bird followed the
Ork, and Trot came next, with Button-Bright trailing
behind her. It was quite an imposing procession, but
unfortunately there was no one to see it, for the Ork had
headed straight for the great sandy desert and in a few
minutes after starting they were flying high over the
broad waste, where no living thing could exist.
The little girl thought this would be a bad place for
the birds to lose strength, or for the cloth ropes to
The Scarecrow of Oz |
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 Essays & Lectures by Oscar Wilde: more. Now, I do not want you, believe me, to ask your brilliant
young men, your beautiful young girls, to go out and make a road on
a swamp for any village in America, but I think you might each of
you have some art to practise.
We must have, as Emerson said, a mechanical craft for our culture,
a basis for our higher accomplishments in the work of our hands -
the uselessness of most people's hands seems to me one of the most
unpractical things. 'No separation from labour can be without some
loss of power or truth to the seer,' says Emerson again. The
heroism which would make on us the impression of Epaminondas must
be that of a domestic conqueror. The hero of the future is he who
|
