| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Droll Stories, V. 1 by Honore de Balzac: speed, fearing he should be killed; and departed for the lands beyond
the seas, in order to accomplish his vow of religion. When Blanche had
learned from the above-mentioned abbot the penitence imposed upon her
well beloved, she fell into a state of great melancholy, saying at
times, "Where is he, the poor unfortunate, who is in the middle of
great dangers for love of me?"
And always kept on asking, like a child who gives its mother no rest
until its request be granted it. At these lamentations the poor
seneschal, feeling himself to blame, endeavoured to do a thousand
things, putting one out of the question, in order to make Blanche
happy; but nothing was equal to the sweet caresses of the page.
Droll Stories, V. 1 |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Silverado Squatters by Robert Louis Stevenson: the road a hollerin' and a raisin' Cain." And at last he had
to come to the Hansons in despair, and bid Rufe, "Jump into
your pants and shoes, and show me where this old mine is,
anyway!" Seeing that Ronalds had laid out so much money in
the spot, and that a beaten road led right up to the bottom
of the clump, I thought this a remarkable example. The sense
of locality must be singularly in abeyance in the case of
Ronalds.
That same evening, supper comfortably over, Joe Strong busy
at work on a drawing of the dump and the opposite hills, we
were all out on the platform together, sitting there, under
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Master Key by L. Frank Baum: until he could reach the dial of the traveling machine. He feared to
unclasp the machine just then, for two reasons: if it slipped from his
grasp they would both plunge downward to their death; and he was not
sure the machine would work at all if in any other position than
fastened to the left wrist.
Rob determined to take no chances, so he left the machine attached to
the Turk and turned the indicator to zero and then to "East," for he
did not wish to rejoin either his enemies the Turks or his equally
undesirable friends the Tatars.
After traveling eastward a few minutes he lost sight of the city
altogether; so, still clinging to the body of the Turk, he again
The Master Key |
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 Of The Nature of Things by Lucretius: Bars me no more from gazing down o'er all
Which under our feet is going on below
Along the void. O, here in these affairs
Some new divine delight and trembling awe
Takes hold through me, that thus by power of thine
Nature, so plain and manifest at last,
Hath been on every side laid bare to man!
And since I've taught already of what sort
The seeds of all things are, and how, distinct
In divers forms, they flit of own accord,
Stirred with a motion everlasting on,
Of The Nature of Things |
