| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Divine Comedy (translated by H.F. Cary) by Dante Alighieri: The ribs of his, that hath made many a voyage;
One hammers at the prow, one at the poop;
This shapeth oars, that other cables twirls,
The mizen one repairs and main-sail rent
So not by force of fire but art divine
Boil'd here a glutinous thick mass, that round
Lim'd all the shore beneath. I that beheld,
But therein nought distinguish'd, save the surge,
Rais'd by the boiling, in one mighty swell
Heave, and by turns subsiding and fall. While there
I fix'd my ken below, "Mark! mark!" my guide
The Divine Comedy (translated by H.F. Cary) |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte: stiff, ungracious bow, she accosted him with one of her sweetest
smiles, and, walking by his side, began to talk to him with all
imaginable cheerfulness and affability; and so we proceeded all
three together.
After a short pause in the conversation, Mr. Weston made some
remark addressed particularly to me, as referring to something we
had been talking of before; but before I could answer, Miss Murray
replied to the observation and enlarged upon it: he rejoined; and,
from thence to the close of the interview, she engrossed him
entirely to herself. It might be partly owing to my own stupidity,
my want of tact and assurance: but I felt myself wronged: I
Agnes Grey |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Light of Western Stars by Zane Grey: by shock, growing strong, strangely, spiritually altered, silent,
lonely like an eagle, secretive, tireless, faithful, soft as a
woman, hard as iron to endure, and at the last noble.
She softened. In a flash her complex mood changed to one wherein
she thought of the truth, the beauty, the wonder of Stewart's
uplifting. Humbly she trusted that she had helped him to climb.
That influence had been the best she had ever exerted. It had
wrought magic in her own character. By it she had reached some
higher, nobler plane of trust in man. She had received
infinitely more than she had given.
Her swiftly flying memory seemed to assort a vast mine of
The Light of Western Stars |
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 Caesar's Commentaries in Latin by Julius Caesar: Illyricumque properabat, inita proxima aestate ad se reverti iussit. Ipse
in Carnutes, Andes, Turonos quaeque civitates propinquae iis locis erant
ubi bellum gesserat, legionibus in hiberna deductis, in Italiam profectus
est. Ob easque res ex litteris Caesaris dierum XV supplicatio decreta
est, quod ante id tempus accidit nulli.
C. IULI CAESARIS
DE BELLO GALLICO
COMMENTARIUS TERTIUS
CVM in Italiam proficisceretur Caesar, Ser. Galbam cum legione XII.
et parte equitatus in Nantuates, Veragros Sedunosque misit, qui a finibus
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