| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Oedipus Trilogy by Sophocles: If I lightly put away
Thee my country's prop and stay,
Pilot who, in danger sought,
To a quiet haven brought
Our distracted State; and now
Who can guide us right but thou?
JOCASTA
Let me too, I adjure thee, know, O king,
What cause has stirred this unrelenting wrath.
OEDIPUS
I will, for thou art more to me than these.
Oedipus Trilogy |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Maitre Cornelius by Honore de Balzac: she trembled in every limb, and horrible pains were in her back. She
turned pale by degrees, and her face,--the changes in which were
difficult to decipher among its wrinkles,--became distorted while her
brother explained to her the malady of which he was the victim, and
the extraordinary situation in which he found himself.
"Louis XI. and I," he said in conclusion, "have just been lying to
each other like two pedlers of coconuts. You understand, my girl, that
if he follows me, he will get the secret of the hiding-place. The king
alone can watch my wanderings at night. I don't feel sure that his
conscience, near as he is to death, can resist thirteen hundred
thousand crowns. We MUST be beforehand with him; we must find the
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Tanglewood Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne: Phoenix shed tears, and probably regretted that he was no
longer to keep them company.
However, he had fixed upon an admirable place to dwell in. And
by and by there came other people, who chanced to have no
homes; and, seeing how pleasant a spot it was, they built
themselves huts in the neighborhood of Phoenix's habitation.
Thus, before many years went by, a city had grown up there, in
the center of which was seen a stately palace of marble,
wherein dwelt Phoenix, clothed in a purple robe, and wearing a
golden crown upon his head. For the inhabitants of the new
city, finding that he had royal blood in his veins, had chosen
Tanglewood Tales |
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 Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence: fetched away most of the furniture and bedding, and unscrewed the
handle of the pump, so she was forced to go. But instead of going back
to Stacks Gate she went and lodged with that Mrs Swain at Beggarlee,
because her brother Dan's wife wouldn't have her. And she kept going to
old Mrs Mellors' house, to catch him, and she began swearing he'd got
in bed with her in the cottage and she went to a lawyer to make him pay
her an allowance. She's grown heavy, and more common than ever, and as
strong as a bull. And she goes about saying the most awful things about
him, how he has women at the cottage, and how he behaved to her when
they were married, the low, beastly things he did to her, and I don't
know what all. I'm sure it's awful, the mischief a woman can do, once
Lady Chatterley's Lover |
