| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Plutarch's Lives by A. H. Clough: immediately be dispatched; amongst whom were Cingonius, who made
his oration, and Mithridates, formerly mentioned. It was,
however, regarded as arbitrary and illegal, and though it might
be just, yet by no means popular, to take off men of their rank
and quality without a hearing. For everyone expected another
scheme of government, being deceived, as is usual, by the first
plausible pretenses; and the death of Petronius Turpilianus, who
was of consular dignity, and had remained faithful to Nero, was
yet more keenly resented. Indeed, the taking off of Macer in
Africa by Trebonius, and Fonteius by Valens in Germany, had a
fair pretense, they being dreaded as armed commanders, having
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Melmoth Reconciled by Honore de Balzac: Euphrasia's head, at which price her waiting-woman had promised that
Euphrasia should be his. The infatuated youth walked to and fro under
Madame Euphrasia's windows, like the polar bears in their cage at the
Jardin des Plantes, with his right hand thrust beneath his waistcoat
in the region of the heart, which he was fit to tear from his bosom,
but as yet he had only wrenched at the elastic of his braces.
"What can one do to raise ten thousand francs?" he asked himself.
"Shall I make off with the money that I must pay on the registration
of that conveyance? Good heavens! my loan would not ruin the
purchaser, a man with seven millions! And then next day I would fling
myself at his feet and say, 'I have taken ten thousand francs
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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 The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy: subject or other till the small hours, had hitherto been his
practice. But to-day he could not settle into his chair. That
self-contained position he had lately occupied, in which the only
attention demanded was the concentration of the inner eye, all
outer regard being quite gratuitous, seemed to have been taken by
insidious stratagem, and for the first time he had an interest
outside the house. He walked from one window to another, and
became aware that the most irksome of solitudes is not the
solitude of remoteness, but that which is just outside desirable
company.
The breakfast hour went by heavily enough, and the next followed,
The Woodlanders |
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 Love Songs by Sara Teasdale: To answer from afar.
Pierrot laid down his lute to weep,
And sighed, "She sings for me."
But Colin slept a careless sleep
Beneath an apple tree.
Four Winds
"Four winds blowing through the sky,
You have seen poor maidens die,
Tell me then what I shall do
That my lover may be true."
Said the wind from out the south,
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