| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Enoch Arden, &c. by Alfred Tennyson: `Boy, mark me! for your fortunes are to make.
I swear you shall not make them out of mine.
Now inasmuch as you have practised on her,
Perplext her, made her half forget herself,
Swerve from her duty to herself and us--
Things in an Aylmer deem'd impossible,
Far as we track ourselves--I say that this,--
Else I withdraw favor and countenance
From you and yours for ever--shall you do.
Sir, when you see her--but you shall not see her--
No, you shall write, and not to her, but me:
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Grimm's Fairy Tales by Brothers Grimm: 'The better to hug you with.'
'Oh! but, grandmother, what a terrible big mouth you have!'
'The better to eat you with!'
And scarcely had the wolf said this, than with one bound he was out of
bed and swallowed up Red-Cap.
When the wolf had appeased his appetite, he lay down again in the bed,
fell asleep and began to snore very loud. The huntsman was just
passing the house, and thought to himself: 'How the old woman is
snoring! I must just see if she wants anything.' So he went into the
room, and when he came to the bed, he saw that the wolf was lying in
it. 'Do I find you here, you old sinner!' said he. 'I have long sought
Grimm's Fairy Tales |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from An International Episode by Henry James: I make use of this expression, because both interlocutors had begun
to raise their voices. Percy Beaumont naturally did not like to hear
his country abused, and Mrs. Westgate, no less naturally, did not like
a stubborn debater.
"Hallo!" said Lord Lambeth; "what are they up to now?"
And he came away from the window, where he had been standing
with Bessie Alden.
"I quite agree with a very clever countrywoman of mine," Mrs. Westgate
continued with charming ardor, though with imperfect relevancy.
She smiled at the two gentlemen for a moment with terrible brightness, as if
to toss at their feet--upon their native heath--the gauntlet of defiance.
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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 King of the Golden River by John Ruskin: were both awakened by a tremendous crash. Their door burst open
with a violence that shook the house from top to bottom.
"What's that?" cried Schwartz, starting up in his bed.
"Only I," said the little gentleman.
The two brothers sat up on their bolster and stared into the
darkness. The room was full of water, and by a misty moonbeam,
which found its way through a hole in the shutter, they could see in
the midst of it an enormous foam globe, spinning round and bobbing
up and down like a cork, on which, as on a most luxurious cushion,
reclined the little old gentleman, cap and all. There was plenty of
room for it now, for the roof was off.
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