| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx: the more hateful and the more embittering it is.
The less the skill and exertion of strength implied in manual
labour, in other words, the more modern industry becomes
developed,
the more is the labour of men superseded by that of women.
Differences of age and sex have no longer any distinctive social
validity for the working class. All are instruments of labour,
more or less expensive to use, according to their age and sex.
No sooner is the exploitation of the labourer by the
manufacturer,
so far, at an end, that he receives his wages in cash, than he is
The Communist Manifesto |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from De Profundis by Oscar Wilde: required showing, that between the famous and the infamous there is
but one step, if as much as one.
Still, in the very fact that people will recognise me wherever I
go, and know all about my life, as far as its follies go, I can
discern something good for me. It will force on me the necessity
of again asserting myself as an artist, and as soon as I possibly
can. If I can produce only one beautiful work of art I shall be
able to rob malice of its venom, and cowardice of its sneer, and to
pluck out the tongue of scorn by the roots.
And if life be, as it surely is, a problem to me, I am no less a
problem to life. People must adopt some attitude towards me, and
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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 Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln: upon this continent a new nation: conceived in liberty, and
dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war. . .testing whether
that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated. . .
can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war.
We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place
for those who here gave their lives that this nation might live.
It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate. . .we cannot consecrate. . .
we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead,
who struggled here have consecrated it, far above our poor power
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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 Crito by Plato: age does not prevent them from repining.
SOCRATES: That is true. But you have not told me why you come at this
early hour.
CRITO: I come to bring you a message which is sad and painful; not, as I
believe, to yourself, but to all of us who are your friends, and saddest of
all to me.
SOCRATES: What? Has the ship come from Delos, on the arrival of which I
am to die?
CRITO: No, the ship has not actually arrived, but she will probably be
here to-day, as persons who have come from Sunium tell me that they have
left her there; and therefore to-morrow, Socrates, will be the last day of
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