| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald: was Mr. Klipspringer, the "boarder." I had seen him wandering hungrily
about the beach that morning. Finally we came to Gatsby's own apartment,
a bedroom and a bath, and an Adam study, where we sat down and drank a
glass of some Chartreuse he took from a cupboard in the wall.
He hadn't once ceased looking at Daisy, and I think he revalued
everything in his house according to the measure of response it drew
from her well-loved eyes. Sometimes, too, he stared around at his
possessions in a dazed way, as though in her actual and astounding
presence none of it was any longer real. Once he nearly toppled down a
flight of stairs.
His bedroom was the simplest room of all--except where the dresser was
The Great Gatsby |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Little Britain by Washington Irving: argument; but their disputes were always adjusted by reference
to a worthy old umbrellamaker, in a double chin, who, never
exactly comprehending the subject, managed somehow or other
to decide in favor of both parties.
All empires, however, says some philosopher or historian, are
doomed to changes and revolutions. Luxury and innovation
creep in; factions arise; and families now and then spring up,
whose ambition and intrigues throw the whole system into
confusion. Thus in latter days has the tranquillity of Little
Britain been grievously disturbed, and its golden simplicity of
manners threatened with total subversion by the aspiring family
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Oscar Wilde Miscellaneous by Oscar Wilde: If that will serve your purpose.
SIMONE. A hundred thousand!
Said you a hundred thousand? Oh! be sure
That will for all time and in everything
Make me your debtor. Ay! from this time forth
My house, with everything my house contains
Is yours, and only yours.
A hundred thousand!
My brain is dazed. I shall be richer far
Than all the other merchants. I will buy
Vineyards and lands and gardens. Every loom
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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 Dracula by Bram Stoker: So we then can discuss how we shall act, and can take
our measure according.
"There are such beings as vampires, some of us have evidence that
they exist. Even had we not the proof of our own unhappy experience,
the teachings and the records of the past give proof enough
for sane peoples. I admit that at the first I was sceptic.
Were it not that through long years I have trained myself
to keep an open mind, I could not have believed until
such time as that fact thunder on my ear.`See! See!
I prove, I prove.' Alas! Had I known at first what now
I know, nay, had I even guess at him, one so precious
Dracula |
