| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Purse by Honore de Balzac: memory cruelly retraced the fatal truth, minute by minute. He
distinctly saw the purse lying on the green cloth; but then,
doubtful no longer, he excused Adelaide, telling himself that
persons in misfortune should not be so hastily condemned. There
was, of course, some secret behind this apparently degrading
action. He would not admit that that proud and noble face was a
lie.
At the same time the wretched rooms rose before him, denuded of
the poetry of love which beautifies everything; he saw them dirty
and faded, regarding them as emblematic of an inner life devoid
of honor, idle and vicious. Are not our feelings written, as it
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from King Henry VI by William Shakespeare: CLIFFORD.
Health and all happiness to my lord the king!
[Kneels.]
YORK.
I thank thee, Clifford; say, what news with thee?
Nay, do not fright us with an angry look.
We are thy sovereign, Clifford, kneel again;
For thy mistaking so, we pardon thee.
CLIFFORD.
This is my king, York, I do not mistake;
But thou mistakes me much to think I do.--
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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 Beast in the Jungle by Henry James: shimmered across his vision. Darkness again closed over it, but
the gleam had already become for him an idea. "Because I haven't
the right--?"
"Don't KNOW--when you needn't," she mercifully urged. "You
needn't--for we shouldn't."
"Shouldn't?" If he could but know what she meant!
"No--it's too much."
"Too much?" he still asked but with a mystification that was the
next moment of a sudden to give way. Her words, if they meant
something, affected him in this light--the light also of her wasted
face--as meaning ALL, and the sense of what knowledge had been for
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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 Camille by Alexandre Dumas: had occurred to me; and I went to my father and told him that I
had been called to Paris on business, but that I should return
promptly. No doubt he guessed the reason of my departure, for he
insisted that I should stay, but, seeing that if I did not carry
out my intention the consequences, in the state in which I was,
might be fatal, he embraced me, and begged me, almost, with
tears, to return without delay.
I did not sleep on the way to Paris. Once there, what was I going
to do? I did not know; I only knew that it must be something
connected with Marguerite. I went to my rooms to change my
clothes, and, as the weather was fine and it was still early, I
Camille |
