| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Falk by Joseph Conrad: Would you please tell one of your boys to bring
out here a pack of cards and a couple of lights?
And two long drinks. Will you?"
To receive an order soothed him at once. It was
business. "Certainly," he said in an immensely
relieved tone. The night was rainy, with wander-
ing gusts of wind, and while we waited for the can-
dles Falk said, as if to justify his panic, "I don't
interfere in anybody's business. I don't give any
occasion for talk. I am a respectable man. But
this fellow is always making out something wrong,
Falk |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay: weight. Joiwind followed with Maskull. He instantly started to slip
about - nevertheless the motion was amusing, and he learned so fast,
by watching and imitating Panawe, that he was soon able to balance
himself without assistance. After that he found the sport excellent.
For the same reason that women excel in dancing, Joiwind's half falls
and recoveries were far more graceful and sure than those of either
of the men. Her slight, draped form - dipping, bending, rising,
swaying, twisting, upon the surface of the dark water - this was a
picture Maskull could not keep his eyes away from.
The lake grew deeper. The gnawl water became green - black. The
crags, gullies, and precipices of the shore could now be
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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 Scenes from a Courtesan's Life by Honore de Balzac: "That dolt would listen to nothing, and he killed the boy!--I tell
you, sir, I bathed the child's corpse in my tears, crying out to the
Power I do not know, and which is above us all! I, who do not believe
in God!--(For if I were not a materialist, I should not be myself.)
"I have told everything when I say that. You don't know--no man knows
what suffering is. I alone know it. The fire of anguish so dried up my
tears, that all last night I could not weep. Now I can, because I feel
that you can understand me. I saw you, sitting there just now, an
Image of Justice. Oh! monsieur, may God--for I am beginning to believe
in Him--preserve you from ever being as bereft as I am! That cursed
judge has robbed me of my soul, Monsieur le Comte! At this moment they
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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 The Koran: Say, 'Call on those whom ye pretend other than God;' but they
shall not have the power to remove distress from you, nor to turn it
off.
Those on whom they call, seek themselves for a means of
approaching their Lord, (to see) which of them is nearest: and they
hope for His mercy and they fear His torment; verily, the torment of
thy Lord is a thing to beware of.
There is no city but we will destroy it before the day of
judgment, or torment it with keen torment;- that is in the Book
inscribed.
Naught hindered us from sending thee with signs, save that those
The Koran |
