| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Sons and Lovers by D. H. Lawrence: not to the man. The great beast shifted round to her, ducking his head.
She smuggled into his mouth the wrinkled yellow apple she had
been hiding behind her back, then she kissed him near the eyes.
He gave a big sigh of pleasure. She held his head in her arms
against her breast.
"Isn't he splendid!" said Miriam to her.
Miss Limb looked up. Her dark eyes glanced straight at Paul.
"Oh, good-evening, Miss Leivers," she said. "It's ages
since you've been down."
Miriam introduced her friends.
"Your horse IS a fine fellow!" said Clara.
Sons and Lovers |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Pool in the Desert by Sara Jeanette Duncan: men, they never kissed each other. I think Judy prescribed these
conditions. Anna was far more a person who did as the world told
her. But it was a poor negation to describe all that they never
did; there was no common little convention of attachment that did
not seem to be tacitly omitted between them. I hope one did not too
cynically observe that they offered these to their husbands instead;
the redeeming observation was their husbands' complete satisfaction.
This they maintained to the end. In the natural order of things
Robert Harbottle should have paid heavily for interfering as he did
in Paris between a woman and what she was entitled to live for. As
a matter of fact he never paid anything at all; I doubt whether he
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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 Ferragus by Honore de Balzac: "Ferragus is not the name of the enemy who is pursuing Monsieur le
baron. This man--this devil, rather--is called Gratien, Henri, Victor,
Jean-Joseph Bourignard. The Sieur Gratien Bourignard is a former ship-
builder, once very rich, and, above all, one of the handsomest men of
his day in Paris,--a Lovelace, capable of seducing Grandison. My
information stops short there. He has been a simple workman; and the
Companions of the Order of the Devorants did, at one time, elect him
as their chief, under the title of Ferragus XXIII. The police ought to
know that, if the police were instituted to know anything. The man has
moved from the rue des Vieux-Augustins, and now roosts rue Joquelet,
where Madame Jules Desmarets goes frequently to see him; sometimes her
Ferragus |
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 A Passion in the Desert by Honore de Balzac: glittered in the sun like jewelry. It gave him pleasure to contemplate
the supple, fine outlines of her form, the whiteness of her belly, the
graceful pose of her head. But it was especially when she was playing
that he felt most pleasure in looking at her; the agility and youthful
lightness of her movements were a continual surprise to him; he
wondered at the supple way in which she jumped and climbed, washed
herself and arranged her fur, crouched down and prepared to spring.
However rapid her spring might be, however slippery the stone she was
on, she would always stop short at the word "Mignonne."
One day, in a bright midday sun, an enormous bird coursed through the
air. The man left his panther to look at his new guest; but after
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