| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Touchstone by Edith Wharton: really she didn't see what there was to laugh at. "I'm sure I
feel more like crying. I don't know what I should have done if
Alexa hadn't been home to give me a cup of tea. My nerves are in
shreds--yes, another, dear, please--" and as Glennard looked his
perplexity, she went on, after pondering on the selection of a
second lump of sugar, "Why, I've just come from the reading, you
know--the reading at the Waldorf."
"I haven't been in town long enough to know anything," said
Glennard, taking the cup his wife handed him. "Who has been
reading what?"
"That lovely girl from the South--Georgie--Georgie what's her
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Fantastic Fables by Ambrose Bierce: her, for she died of the song.
The Lion, the Cock, and the Ass
A LION was about to attack a braying Ass, when a Cock near by
crowed shrilly, and the Lion ran away. "What frightened him?" the
Ass asked.
"Lions have a superstitious terror of my voice," answered the Cock,
proudly.
"Well, well, well," said the Ass, shaking his head; "I should think
that any animal that is afraid of your voice and doesn't mind mine
must have an uncommon kind of ear."
The Snake and the Swallow
Fantastic Fables |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from On the Duty of Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau: stubborn and unconcilliatory; but it is to treat with the
utmost kindness and consideration the only spirit that can
appreciate or deserves it. So is all change for the better,
like birth and death, which convulse the body.
I do not hesitate to say, that those who call themselves
Abolitionists should at once effectually withdraw
their support, both in person and property, from the
government of Massachusetts, and not wait till they
constitute a majority of one, before they suffer the right
to prevail through them. I think that it is enough if they
have God on their side, without waiting for that other one.
On the Duty of Civil Disobedience |
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 Cavalry General by Xenophon: give a suggestion of number, whereas scattered they may easily be
counted.
Another means by which you may give your troop an appearance of
numerical strength beyond reality consists in posting, in and out
between the troopers, so many lines of grooms[3] who should carry
lances if possible, or staves at any rate to look like lances--a plan
which will serve alike whether you mean to display your cavalry force
at the halt or are deploying to increase front; in either case,
obviously the bulk and volume of the force, whatever your formation,
will appear increased. Conversely, if the problem be to make large
numbers appear small, supposing you have ground at command adapted to
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