| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Four Arthurian Romances by Chretien DeTroyes: for me. Once my lady sent me on an errand to the King's court,
and I suppose I was not so experienced or courteous or so well
behaved as a maiden ought to be; at any rate, there was not a
knight there who deigned to say a word to me except you alone who
stand here now; but you, in your kindness, honoured and aided me.
For the honour you did me then I shall now reward you. I know
full well what your name is, and I recognised you at once: your
name is my lord Yvain. You may be sure and certain that if you
take my advice you will never be caught or treated ill. Please
take this little ring of mine, which you will return when I shall
have delivered you." (12) Then she handed him the little ring
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte: as safe with me, and shall be tended as carefully as your master
tends his own. I have a room up-stairs, furnished for him in
handsome style; I've engaged a tutor, also, to come three times a
week, from twenty miles' distance, to teach him what he pleases to
learn. I've ordered Hareton to obey him: and in fact I've
arranged everything with a view to preserve the superior and the
gentleman in him, above his associates. I do regret, however, that
he so little deserves the trouble: if I wished any blessing in the
world, it was to find him a worthy object of pride; and I'm
bitterly disappointed with the whey-faced, whining wretch!'
While he was speaking, Joseph returned bearing a basin of milk-
Wuthering Heights |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Sportsman by Xenophon: and short for the opposite reason during summer. In winter, however,
their scent does not lie in early morning, when the rime is on the
ground, or earth is frozen.[1] The fact is, hoar frost by its own
inherent force absorbs its heat, whilst black frost freezes it.[2]
[1] Or, "when there is hoar frost or black frost" (lit. "ice").
[2] Or, "the ice congeals them," "encases as it were in itself the
heat," i.e. the warm scent; aliter, "causes the tracks to freeze
at the top."
The hounds, moreover, with their noses nipped by the cold,[3] cannot
under these conditions[4] use their sense of smell, until the sun or
the mere advance of day dissolves the scent. Then the noses of the
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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 Theaetetus by Plato: described by the help of it. There is also a common type of the mind which
is derived from the comparison of many minds with one another and with our
own. The phenomena of which Psychology treats are familiar to us, but they
are for the most part indefinite; they relate to a something inside the
body, which seems also to overleap the limits of space. The operations of
this something, when isolated, cannot be analyzed by us or subjected to
observation and experiment. And there is another point to be considered.
The mind, when thinking, cannot survey that part of itself which is used in
thought. It can only be contemplated in the past, that is to say, in the
history of the individual or of the world. This is the scientific method
of studying the mind. But Psychology has also some other supports,
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