| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson by Robert Louis Stevenson: Britain is rapidly and progressively becoming more pigmented;
already in one man's life I can decidedly trace a difference in the
children about a school door. But colour is not an essential part
of a man or a race. Take my Polynesians, an Asiatic people
probably from the neighbourhood of the Persian gulf. They range
through any amount of shades, from the burnt hue of the Low
Archipelago islander, which seems half negro, to the 'bleached'
pretty women of the Marquesas (close by on the map), who come out
for a festival no darker than an Italian; their colour seems to
vary directly with the degree of exposure to the sun. And, as with
negroes, the babes are born white; only it should seem a LITTLE
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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 Master Key by L. Frank Baum: at his hotel, but the atmosphere of Paris proved so hot and
disagreeable that he decided it would be more enjoyable to sleep while
journeying through the cooler air that lay far above the earth's
surface. So just as the clocks were striking the midnight hour Rob
mounted skyward and turned the indicator of the traveling machine to
the east, intending to make the city of Vienna his next stop.
He had risen to a considerable distance, where the air was remarkably
fresh and exhilarating, and the relief he experienced from the close
and muggy streets of Paris was of such a soothing nature that he
presently fell fast asleep. His day in the metropolis had been a busy
one, for, like all boys, he had forgotten himself in the delight of
The Master Key |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte: accustomed to the dry, prosy discourses of the former curate, and
the still less edifying harangues of the rector. Mr. Hatfield
would come sailing up the aisle, or rather sweeping along like a
whirlwind, with his rich silk gown flying behind him and rustling
against the pew doors, mount the pulpit like a conqueror ascending
his triumphal car; then, sinking on the velvet cushion in an
attitude of studied grace, remain in silent prostration for a
certain time; then mutter over a Collect, and gabble through the
Lord's Prayer, rise, draw off one bright lavender glove, to give
the congregation the benefit of his sparkling rings, lightly pass
his fingers through his well-curled hair, flourish a cambric
Agnes Grey |
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 To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf: leave them so, she said. The place was gone to rack and ruin. Only
the Lighthouse beam entered the rooms for a moment, sent its sudden
stare over bed and wall in the darkness of winter, looked with
equanimity at the thistle and the swallow, the rat and the straw.
Nothing now withstood them; nothing said no to them. Let the wind
blow; let the poppy seed itself and the carnation mate with the
cabbage. Let the swallow build in the drawing-room, and the thistle
thrust aside the tiles, and the butterfly sun itself on the faded
chintz of the arm-chairs. Let the broken glass and the china lie out
on the lawn and be tangled over with grass and wild berries.
For now had come that moment, that hesitation when dawn trembles and
To the Lighthouse |
