| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie: "What time was that?"
"I couldn't say exactly, sir, but it wasn't tea-time by a long
way. Perhaps four o'clock--or it may have been a bit later.
Well, sir, as I said, I happened to be passing along, when I
heard voices very loud and angry in here. I didn't exactly mean
to listen, but--well, there it is. I stopped. The door was
shut, but the mistress was speaking very sharp and clear, and I
heard what she said quite plainly. 'You have lied to me, and
deceived me,' she said. I didn't hear what Mr. Inglethorp
replied. He spoke a good bit lower than she did--but she
answered: 'How dare you? I have kept you and clothed you and fed
The Mysterious Affair at Styles |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen: parental care. MY father began life in the profession which your
uncle, Mr. Phillips, appears to do so much credit to-- but he
gave up everything to be of use to the late Mr. Darcy and
devoted all his time to the care of the Pemberley property. He
was most highly esteemed by Mr. Darcy, a most intimate,
confidential friend. Mr. Darcy often acknowledged himself to be
under the greatest obligations to my father's active
superintendence, and when, immediately before my father's
death, Mr. Darcy gave him a voluntary promise of providing for
me, I am convinced that he felt it to be as much a debt of
gratitude to HIM, as of his affection to myself."
Pride and Prejudice |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Moon-Face and Other Stories by Jack London: sure you will agree. No more does his infernal laugh go echoing among the
hills, and no more does his fat moon-face rise up to vex me. My days are
peaceful now, and my night's sleep deep.
THE LEOPARD MAN'S STORY
HE had a dreamy, far-away look in his eyes, and his sad, insistent voice,
gentle-spoken as a maid's, seemed the placid embodiment of some deep-seated
melancholy. He was the Leopard Man, but he did not look it. His business in
life, whereby he lived, was to appear in a cage of performing leopards before
vast audiences, and to thrill those audiences by certain exhibitions of nerve
for which his employers rewarded him on a scale commensurate with the thrills
he produced.
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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 Perfect Wagnerite: A Commentary on the Niblung's Ring by George Bernard Shaw: clearer to the common man than they were to the doers. Some years
ago, in the course of an explanation of Ibsen's plays, I pointed
out that it was by no means certain or even likely that Ibsen was
as definitely conscious of his thesis as I. All the stupid
people, and some critics who, though not stupid, had not
themselves written what the Germans call "tendency" works, saw
nothing in this but a fantastic affectation of the extravagant
self-conceit of knowing more about Ibsen than Ibsen himself.
Fortunately, in taking exactly the same position now with regard
to Wagner, I can claim his own authority to support me. "How," he
wrote to Roeckel on the 23rd. August 1856, "can an artist expect
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