| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Two Noble Kinsmen by William Shakespeare: Before the god of our profession: There
Require of him the hearts of Lyons, and
The breath of Tigers, yea, the fearcenesse too,
Yea, the speed also,--to goe on, I meane,
Else wish we to be Snayles: you know my prize
Must be drag'd out of blood; force and great feate
Must put my Garland on, where she stickes
The Queene of Flowers: our intercession then
Must be to him that makes the Campe a Cestron
Brymd with the blood of men: give me your aide
And bend your spirits towards him. [They kneele.]
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Roads of Destiny by O. Henry: the bell-boy down to the proprietor. They gently, but inflexibly,
pumped the family of the deceased as far as his cousins twice removed.
They artfully sounded the employees of the late jeweller, and dogged
his customers for information concerning his habits. Like bloodhounds
they traced every step of the supposed defaulter, as nearly as might
be, for years along the limited and monotonous paths he had trodden.
At the end of their labours, Mr. Morin stood, an immaculate man. Not
one weakness that might be served up as a criminal tendency, not one
deviation from the path of rectitude, not even a hint of a
predilection for the opposite sex, was found to be placed in his
debit. His life had been as regular and austere as a monk's; his
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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 Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson by Robert Louis Stevenson: methods and effects wooing me, myself in the midst impotent to
follow any. I look for dawn presently, and a full flowing river of
expression, running whither it wills. But these useless seasons,
above all, when a man MUST continue to spoil paper, are infinitely
weary.
We are in our house after a fashion; without furniture, 'tis true,
camping there, like the family after a sale. But the bailiff has
not yet appeared; he will probably come after. The place is
beautiful beyond dreams; some fifty miles of the Pacific spread in
front; deep woods all round; a mountain making in the sky a profile
of huge trees upon our left; about us, the little island of our
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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 Grimm's Fairy Tales by Brothers Grimm: said, 'I am very much tired--I should like to take a nap.' 'Very
well,' answered the sparrow, 'do so, and in the meantime I will perch
upon that bush.' So the dog stretched himself out on the road, and
fell fast asleep. Whilst he slept, there came by a carter with a cart
drawn by three horses, and loaded with two casks of wine. The sparrow,
seeing that the carter did not turn out of the way, but would go on in
the track in which the dog lay, so as to drive over him, called out,
'Stop! stop! Mr Carter, or it shall be the worse for you.' But the
carter, grumbling to himself, 'You make it the worse for me, indeed!
what can you do?' cracked his whip, and drove his cart over the poor
dog, so that the wheels crushed him to death. 'There,' cried the
Grimm's Fairy Tales |
