| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Life in the Iron-Mills by Rebecca Davis: had caught since the trial, or the curious gray shadow that
rested on it. That gray shadow,--yes, she knew what that meant.
She had often seen it creeping over women's faces for months,
who died at last of slow hunger or consumption. That meant
death, distant, lingering: but this--Whatever it was the woman
saw, or thought she saw, used as she was to crime and misery,
seemed to make her sick with a new horror. Forgetting her fear
of him, she caught his shoulders, and looked keenly, steadily,
into his eyes.
"Hugh!" she cried, in a desperate whisper,--"oh, boy, not that!
for God's sake, not that!"
Life in the Iron-Mills |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Moral Emblems by Robert Louis Stevenson: But now he's dead and by the board.
How better far at home to have stayed
Attended by the parlour maid,
And warmed his knees before the fire
Until the hour when folks retire!
SO, IF YOU WOULD BE SPARED TO FRIENDS,
DO NOTHING BUT FOR BUSINESS ENDS.
Poem: V
Industrious pirate! see him sweep
The lonely bosom of the deep,
And daily the horizon scan
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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 Crito by Plato: or Crete, both which states are often praised by you for their good
government, or to some other Hellenic or foreign state. Whereas you, above
all other Athenians, seemed to be so fond of the state, or, in other words,
of us her laws (and who would care about a state which has no laws?), that
you never stirred out of her; the halt, the blind, the maimed, were not
more stationary in her than you were. And now you run away and forsake
your agreements. Not so, Socrates, if you will take our advice; do not
make yourself ridiculous by escaping out of the city.
'For just consider, if you transgress and err in this sort of way, what
good will you do either to yourself or to your friends? That your friends
will be driven into exile and deprived of citizenship, or will lose their
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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 Soul of a Bishop by H. G. Wells: Even in her prayers she could not argue nor vary. She prayed over
and over again many hundreds of times: "Bring him back, dear
Lord. Bring him back again."
In the past he had always been a very kind and friendly mate to
her, but sometimes he had been irritable about small things,
especially during his seasons of insomnia; now he came back
changed, a much graver man, rather older in his manner, carefully
attentive to her, kinder and more watchful, at times
astonishingly apologetic, but rigidly set upon his purpose of
leaving the church. "I know you do not think with me in this," he
said. "I have to pray you to be patient with me. I have struggled
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