| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Horse's Tale by Mark Twain: tracks - gazing at the child. She forgot orders, and was on the
floor in a moment, saying:
"Oh, you are so beautiful! Do you like me?"
"No, I don't, I love you!" and he gathered her up with a hug, and
then set her on his shoulder - apparently nine feet from the floor.
She was at home. She played with his long hair, and admired his
big hands and his clothes and his carbine, and asked question after
question, as fast as he could answer, until I excused them both for
half an hour, in order to have a chance to finish my work. Then I
heard Cathy exclaiming over Soldier Boy; and he was worthy of her
raptures, for he is a wonder of a horse, and has a reputation which
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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 Lover's Complaint by William Shakespeare: Weak sights their sickly radiance do amend;
The heaven-hued sapphire and the opal blend
With objects manifold; each several stone,
With wit well blazon'd, smil'd, or made some moan.
'Lo! all these trophies of affections hot,
Of pensiv'd and subdued desires the tender,
Nature hath charg'd me that I hoard them not,
But yield them up where I myself must render,
That is, to you, my origin and ender:
For these, of force, must your oblations be,
Since I their altar, you enpatron me.
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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 The Mansion by Henry van Dyke: It looked as if it had been built of discarded things, scraps and
fragments of other buildings, put together with care and pains,
by some one who had tried to make the most of cast-off material.
There was something pitiful and shamefaced about the hut.
It shrank and drooped and faded in its barren field, and seemed
to
cling only by sufferance to the edge of the splendid city.
"This," said the Keeper of the Gate, standing still and speaking
with
a low, distinct voice--"this is your mansion, John Weightman."
An almost intolerable shock of grieved wonder and indignation
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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 Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence: She herself had started it, in her bouts when she wanted to be clear of
me, when she said I bossed her. She had started having a room for
herself. But the time came when I wouldn't have her coming to my room.
I wouldn't.
'I hated it. And she hated me. My God, how she hated me before that
child was born! I often think she conceived it out of hate. Anyhow,
after the child was born I left her alone. And then came the war, and I
joined up. And I didn't come back till I knew she was with that fellow
at Stacks Gate.
He broke off, pale in the face.
'And what is the man at Stacks Gate like?' asked Connie.
Lady Chatterley's Lover |
