| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Z. Marcas by Honore de Balzac: In those papers, smelling of tobacco, and covered with writing so vile
as to be almost hieroglyphic, there are suggestions for a fortune, and
forecasts of unerring acumen. There are hints as to certain parts of
America and Asia which have been fully justified, both before and
since Juste and I could set out.
Marcas, like us, was in the most abject poverty. He earned, indeed,
his daily bread, but he had neither linen, clothes, nor shoes. He did
not make himself out any better than he was; his dreams had been of
luxury as well as of power. He did not admit that this was the real
Marcas; he abandoned this person, indeed, to the caprices of life.
What he lived by was the breath of ambition; he dreamed of revenge
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Flower Fables by Louisa May Alcott: "Why are you all so gay, dear birds?" she asked, as their cheerful
voices sounded far and near; "is there a festival over the earth,
that all is so beautiful and bright?"
"Do you not know that Spring is coming? The warm winds whispered it
days ago, and we are learning the sweetest songs, to welcome her
when she shall come," sang the lark, soaring away as the music gushed
from his little throat.
"And shall I see her, Violet, as she journeys over the earth?" asked
Ripple again.
"Yes, you will meet her soon, for the sunlight told me she was near;
tell her we long to see her again, and are waiting to welcome her
Flower Fables |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Love and Friendship by Jane Austen: so far from diminushing. What would my Husband and Brother say
of us, if they knew all the fine things I have been saying to you
in this letter. It is very hard that a pretty woman is never to
be told she is so by any one of her own sex without that person's
being suspected to be either her determined Enemy, or her
professed Toad-eater. How much more amiable are women in that
particular! One man may say forty civil things to another
without our supposing that he is ever paid for it, and provided
he does his Duty by our sex, we care not how Polite he is to his
own.
Mrs Lutterell will be so good as to accept my compliments,
Love and Friendship |
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 Marie by H. Rider Haggard: I soon proved upon the present occasion, for seated there in that kloof,
after a few trials, I found that I could bring down quite a number of
even the swift, straight-flying rock pigeons as they sped over me, and
this, be it remembered, not with shot, but with a single bullet, a feat
that many would hold to be incredible.
So the days passed, and I practised, every evening finding me a little
better at this terribly difficult sport. For always I learned more as
to the exact capacities of my rifle and the allowance that must be made
according to the speed of the bird, its distance, and the complications
of the wind and of the light. During those days, also, I recovered so
rapidly that at the end of them I was almost in my normal condition, and
Marie |
