| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from In a German Pension by Katherine Mansfield: o'clock in the morning seemed absurd. So he slipped down in the chair,
leaned his elbows on the padded arms and gave himself up, for once, to idle
dreaming. "A boy? Yes, it was bound to be a boy this time..." "What's
your family, Binzer?" "Oh, I've two girls and a boy!" A very nice little
number. Of course he was the last man to have a favourite child, but a man
needed a son. "I'm working up the business for my son! Binzer & Son! It
would mean living very tight for the next ten years, cutting expenses as
fine as possible; and then--"
A tremendous gust of wind sprang upon the house, seized it, shook it,
dropped, only to grip the more tightly. The waves swelled up along the
breakwater and were whipped with broken foam. Over the white sky flew
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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 Koran: quicken you again-verily, man is indeed ungrateful.
For every nation have we made rites which they observe; let them not
then dispute about the matter, but call upon thy Lord; verily, thou
art surely in a right guidance!
But if they wrangle with thee, say, 'God best knows what ye do.'
God shall judge between them on the resurrection day concerning that
whereon they disagreed.
Didst thou not know that God knows what is in the heavens and the
earth? verily, that is in a book; verily, that for God is easy.
And they serve beside God what He has sent down no power for, and
what they have no knowledge of; but the wrong-doers shall have none to
The Koran |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Memoir of Fleeming Jenkin by Robert Louis Stevenson: particularly, submarine cables, and the methods, machines, and
instruments for laying, testing, and using them, formed naturally
the chief subject of our conversations and discussions; as it was
in fact the practical object of Jenkin's visit to me in Glasgow;
but not much of the week had passed before I found him remarkably
interested in science generally, and full of intelligent eagerness
on many particular questions of dynamics and physics. When he
returned from Glasgow to Birkenhead a correspondence commenced
between us, which was continued without intermission up to the last
days of his life. It commenced with a well-sustained fire of
letters on each side about the physical qualities of submarine
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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 The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin: and exclaim'd against the ministers for ignorantly landing them in a
country destitute of the means of conveying their stores, baggage,
etc., not less than one hundred and fifty waggons being necessary.
I happened to say I thought it was a pity they had not been landed
rather in Pennsylvania, as in that country almost every farmer had
his waggon. The general eagerly laid hold of my words, and said,
"Then you, sir, who are a man of interest there, can probably
procure them for us; and I beg you will undertake it." I ask'd
what terms were to be offer'd the owners of the waggons; and I was
desir'd to put on paper the terms that appeared to me necessary.
This I did, and they were agreed to, and a commission and instructions
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin |
