| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde: "No, sir."
The man shambled down the passage in his slippers.
Dorian Gray threw his hat and coat upon the table and passed
into the library. For a quarter of an hour he walked up and down
the room, biting his lip and thinking. Then he took down the Blue
Book from one of the shelves and began to turn over the leaves.
"Alan Campbell, 152, Hertford Street, Mayfair." Yes; that was the man
he wanted.
CHAPTER 14
At nine o'clock the next morning his servant came in with a cup of chocolate
on a tray and opened the shutters. Dorian was sleeping quite peacefully,
The Picture of Dorian Gray |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from To-morrow by Joseph Conrad: to throw over it the tea-cloths, blue rags, or an
apron that wanted drying.
"It rots the wood, Bessie my girl," the captain
would remark mildly, from his side of the fence,
each time he saw her exercising that privilege.
She was a tall girl; the fence was low, and
she could spread her elbows on the top. Her hands
would be red with the bit of washing she had done,
but her forearms were white and shapely, and she
would look at her father's landlord in silence--in
an informed silence which had an air of knowledge,
To-morrow |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Somebody's Little Girl by Martha Young: Helen Vincula. She did not know or care what it was all about--she
scarcely wondered.
``Sister Helen Vincula,'' said the lady, ``I know past all doubting
that I worked this name. You believe that. Much more past all
doubting do you not know--You must know--''
``Ah,'' said Sister Helen Vincula, ``I hope with you.'' She reached
for the little night-gown, and she smoothed it in her fingers.
``Ah,'' she said, ``the child has grown since she has been with us,
so much, but the little gown--it looks--really smaller to me--
But the lady was not listening to Sister Helen Vincula. She had her
arms about Bessie Bell's shoulders and was looking into her face.
|
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 Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe: no, nor to mention the name of God, unless it was to swear by, and
blaspheme it.
I had terrible reflections upon my mind for many months, as I have
already observed, on account of my wicked and hardened life past;
and when I looked about me, and considered what particular
providences had attended me since my coming into this place, and
how God had dealt bountifully with me - had not only punished me
less than my iniquity had deserved, but had so plentifully provided
for me - this gave me great hopes that my repentance was accepted,
and that God had yet mercy in store for me.
With these reflections I worked my mind up, not only to a
Robinson Crusoe |
