| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The White Moll by Frank L. Packard: wall between the window and the door by which she had entered. Yes,
that would do. Her lips tightened. It would have been so easy if
there had not been that cash to account for! She could replace
the necklace, but she could not replace the cash - and one, as far
as the Sparrow was concerned, was as bad as the other. But there
was a way, and it was simple enough. She whispered to herself that
it was not, after all, very dangerous, that the cards were all in
her own hands. She had only to pull down those shields with a
clatter to the floor, which would arouse some one of the household,
and as that some one reached the library door and opened it, she
would be disappearing through the window, and the necklace, as
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Aesop's Fables by Aesop: way. At last he came to a part of the road where the wheels sank
half-way into the mire, and the more the horses pulled, the deeper
sank the wheels. So the Waggoner threw down his whip, and knelt
down and prayed to Hercules the Strong. "O Hercules, help me in
this my hour of distress," quoth he. But Hercules appeared to
him, and said:
"Tut, man, don't sprawl there. Get up and put your shoulder
to the wheel."
The gods help them that help themselves.
The Man, the Boy, and the Donkey
A Man and his son were once going with their Donkey to market.
Aesop's Fables |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Seraphita by Honore de Balzac: the fiord. Perchance some ancient eider-duck crossed the expanse,
trusting to the warm down beneath which dream, in other lands, the
luxurious rich, little knowing of the dangers through which their
luxury has come to them. Like the Bedouin of the desert who darts
alone across the sands of Africa, the bird is neither seen nor heard;
the torpid atmosphere, deprived of its electrical conditions, echoes
neither the whirr of its wings nor its joyous notes. Besides, what
human eye was strong enough to bear the glitter of those pinnacles
adorned with sparkling crystals, or the sharp reflections of the snow,
iridescent on the summits in the rays of a pallid sun which
infrequently appeared, like a dying man seeking to make known that he
Seraphita |
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 Kenilworth by Walter Scott: Daily to pine and waste with care!
Like the poor plant that, from its stem
Divided, feels the chilling air.
"Nor, cruel Earl! can I enjoy
The humble charms of solitude;
Your minions proud my peace destroy,
By sullen frowns or pratings rude.
"Last night, as sad I chanced to stray,
The village death-bell smote my ear;
They wink'd aside, and seemed to say,
'Countess, prepare, thy end is near!'
Kenilworth |
