| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from King Henry VI by William Shakespeare: KING EDWARD.
Bishop, farewell; shield thee from Warwick's frown,
And pray that I may repossess the crown.
[Exeunt.]
SCENE VI. London. The Tower
[Enter KING HENRY, CLARENCE, WARWICK, SOMERSET, Young
RICHMOND, OXFORD, MONTAGUE, Lieutenant of the Tower, and
Attendants.]
KING HENRY.
Master Lieutenant, now that God and friends
Have shaken Edward from the regal seat
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Amazing Interlude by Mary Roberts Rinehart: "Bully!" he said. "What on earth makes you say that?"
Then he laughed.
"Don't you worry, Belle," he said. "I know I'm a fierce and domineering
person, but if there's any bullying I know who'll do it."
"She's not like the other girls you know," she reiterated rather
helplessly.
"Sure she's not! But she's enough like them to need a house to live in.
And if she isn't crazy about the Leete place I'll eat it."
He banged out cheerfully, whistling as he went down the street. He
stopped whistling, however, at Sara Lee's door. The neighborhood
preserved certain traditions as to a house of mourning. It lowered
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Marriage Contract by Honore de Balzac: the way for the prodigalities of children, he allowed almost nothing
to his son, although that son was an only child.
Paul de Manerville, coming home from the college of Vendome in 1810,
lived under close paternal discipline for three years. The tyranny by
which the old man of seventy oppressed his heir influenced,
necessarily, a heart and a character which were not yet formed. Paul,
the son, without lacking the physical courage which is vital in the
air of Gascony, dared not struggle against his father, and
consequently lost that faculty of resistance which begets moral
courage. His thwarted feelings were driven to the depths of his heart,
where they remained without expression; later, when he felt them to be
|
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 A Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay: distinguish something like "Arcturian Back Rays."
He looked up, to stare curiously at his friend. "Have you been here
before, Nightspore?"
"I guessed Krag would leave a message."
"Well, I don't know - it may be a message, but it means nothing to
us, or at all events to me. What are 'back rays'?"
"Light that goes back to its source," muttered Nightspore.
"And what kind of light would that be?"
Nightspore seemed unwilling to answer, but, finding Maskull's eyes
still fixed on him, he brought out: "Unless light pulled, as well as
pushed, how would flowers contrive to twist their heads around after
|
