| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Woman of No Importance by Oscar Wilde: not enough. It does not wipe out the past, I know that. But at
least it makes the future better, better for you, mother.
MRS. ARBUTHNOT. I refuse to marry Lord Illingworth.
GERALD. If he came to you himself and asked you to be his wife you
would give him a different answer. Remember, he is my father.
MRS. ARBUTHNOT. If he came himself, which he will not do, my
answer would be the same. Remember I am your mother.
GERALD. Mother, you make it terribly difficult for me by talking
like that; and I can't understand why you won't look at this matter
from the right, from the only proper standpoint. It is to take
away the bitterness out of your life, to take away the shadow that
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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 Complete Angler by Izaak Walton: Lamprey, that Crassus the orator, who kept her, lamented her death;
and we read in Doctor Hakewill, that Hortensius was seen to weep at
the death of a Lamprey that he had kept long, and loved exceedingly.
It is granted by all, or most men, that Eels, for about six months, that is
to say, the six cold months of the year, stir not up or down, neither in
the rivers, nor in the pools in which they usually are, but get into the
soft earth or mud; and there many of them together bed themselves, and
live without feeding upon anything, as I have told you some swallows
have been observed to do in hollow trees, for those six cold months.
And this the Eel and Swallow do, as not being able to endure winter
weather: for Gesner quotes Albertus to say, that in the year 1125, that
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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 Across The Plains by Robert Louis Stevenson: results of transplantation to that medium. To understand a little
what these are, and how a man's weight, so far from being an
encumbrance, is the very ground of his agility, was the chief
lesson of my submarine experience. The knowledge came upon me by
degrees. As I began to go forward with the hand of my estranged
companion, a world of tumbled stones was visible, pillared with the
weedy uprights of the staging: overhead, a flat roof of green: a
little in front, the sea-wall, like an unfinished rampart. And
presently in our upward progress, Bob motioned me to leap upon a
stone; I looked to see if he were possibly in earnest, and he only
signed to me the more imperiously. Now the block stood six feet
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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 In a German Pension by Katherine Mansfield: her out of the house and her man was running away from her.
"Wait, wait!" she cried.
"No. I'll get my feet damp--you hurry."
It was easier when they came into the village. There were fences to cling
to, and leading from the railway station to the Gasthaus a little path of
cinders had been strewn for the benefit of the wedding guests.
The Gasthaus was very festive. Lights shone out from every window, wreaths
of fir twigs hung from the ledges. Branches decorated the front doors,
which swung open, and in the hall the landlord voiced his superiority by
bullying the waitresses, who ran about continually with glasses of beer,
trays of cups and saucers, and bottles of wine.
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