| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Beasts of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs: countless, nameless noises of the midnight jungle.
For a moment she hesitated, trembling. The thought of the
prowling beasts out there in the darkness was appalling.
Then, with a sudden brave toss of her head, she attacked the
thorny boma wall with her delicate hands. Torn and bleeding
though they were, she worked on breathlessly until she had
made an opening through which she could worm her body,
and at last she stood outside the enclosure.
Behind her lay a fate worse than death, at the hands of
human beings.
Before her lay an almost certain fate--but it was only death--
The Beasts of Tarzan |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Profits of Religion by Upton Sinclair: those of any modern agitator that I have heard in twenty years of
revolutionary experience: "Lay not up for yourselves treasures on
earth! --Sell that ye have and give alms!--Blessed are ye poor,
for yours is the kingdom of Heaven!--Woe unto you that are rich,
for ye have received your consolation!--Verily, I say unto you,
that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of
Heaven!--Woe unto you also, you lawyers!--Ye serpents, ye
generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?"
"And this man"--I quote from "The Jungle" again--"they have made
into the high-priest of property and smug respectability, a
divine sanction of all the horrors and abominations of modern
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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 Common Sense by Thomas Paine: SONS AND APPOINT THEM FOR HIMSELF, FOR HIS CHARIOTS, AND TO BE HIS
HORSEMAN, AND SOME SHALL RUN BEFORE HIS CHARIOTS (this description
agrees with the present mode of impressing men) AND HE WILL APPOINT
HIM CAPTAINS OVER THOUSANDS AND CAPTAINS OVER FIFTIES, AND WILL SET THEM
TO EAR HIS GROUND AND REAP HIS HARVEST, AND TO MAKE HIS INSTRUMENTS OF WAR,
AND INSTRUMENTS OF HIS CHARIOTS; AND HE WILL TAKE YOUR DAUGHTERS
TO BE CONFECTIONARIES, AND TO BE COOKS AND TO BE BAKERS
(this describes the expense and luxury as well as the oppression
of kings) AND HE WILL TAKE YOUR FIELDS AND YOUR OLIVE YARDS,
EVEN THE BEST OF THEM, AND GIVE THEM TO HIS SERVANTS;
AND HE WILL TAKE THE TENTH OF YOUR SEED, AND OF YOUR VINEYARDS,
Common Sense |
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 Paz by Honore de Balzac: to one of the oldest and most illustrious families in Poland, which
was allied to many of the princely houses of Germany,--Sapieha,
Radziwill, Mniszech, Rzewuski, Czartoryski, Leczinski, Lubormirski,
and all the other great Sarmatian SKIS. But heraldic knowledge is not
the most distinguishing feature of the French nation under Louis-
Philippe, and Polish nobility was no great recommendation to the
bourgeoisie who were lording it in those days. Besides, when Adam
first made his appearance, in 1833, on the boulevard des Italiens, at
Frascati, and at the Jockey-Club, he was leading the life of a young
man who, having lost his political prospects, was taking his pleasure
in Parisian dissipation. At first he was thought to be a student.
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