| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Lord Arthur Savile's Crime, etc. by Oscar Wilde: Merton, the daughter of a retired Colonel who had lost his temper
and his digestion in India, and had never found either of them
again. Laura adored him, and he was ready to kiss her shoe-
strings. They were the handsomest couple in London, and had not a
penny-piece between them. The Colonel was very fond of Hughie, but
would not hear of any engagement.
'Come to me, my boy, when you have got ten thousand pounds of your
own, and we will see about it,' he used to say; and Hughie looked
very glum in those days, and had to go to Laura for consolation.
One morning, as he was on his way to Holland Park, where the
Mertons lived, he dropped in to see a great friend of his, Alan
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Ancient Regime by Charles Kingsley: privileges whatsoever, no bond of union was left; and each man stood
alone, proud of his "individuality"--his complete social isolation;
till he discovered that, in ridding himself of superiors, he had rid
himself also of fellows; fulfilling, every man in his own person,
the old fable of the bundle of sticks; and had to submit, under the
Consulate and the Empire, to a tyranny to which the Ancien Regime
was freedom itself.
For, in France at least, the Ancien Regime was no tyranny. The
middle and upper classes had individual liberty--it may be, only too
much; the liberty of disobeying a Government which they did not
respect. "However submissive the French may have been before the
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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 Three Taverns by Edwin Arlington Robinson: Because the faith within me that is life
Endures to live, and shall, till soon or late,
Death, like a friend unseen, shall say to me
My toil is over and my work begun.
How often, and how many a time again,
Have I said I should be with you in Rome!
He who is always coming never comes,
Or comes too late, you may have told yourselves;
And I may tell you now that after me,
Whether I stay for little or for long,
The wolves are coming. Have an eye for them,
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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 Peter Pan by James M. Barrie: "Oh, all right."
"But, I say, what bit?"
"His right hand."
"Then he can't fight now?"
"Oh, can't he just!"
"Left-hander?"
"He has an iron hook instead of a right hand, and he claws with
it."
"Claws!"
"I say, John," said Peter.
"Yes."
Peter Pan |
