| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Silverado Squatters by Robert Louis Stevenson: floor. Had any of us ever seen giant powder? No, nobody
had; and instantly there grew up in my mind a shadowy belief,
verging with every moment nearer to certitude, that I had
somewhere heard somebody describe it as just such a powder as
the one around us. I have learnt since that it is a
substance not unlike tallow, and is made up in rolls for all
the world like tallow candles.
Fanny, to add to our happiness, told us a story of a
gentleman who had camped one night, like ourselves, by a
deserted mine. He was a handy, thrifty fellow, and looked
right and left for plunder, but all he could lay his hands on
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from De Profundis by Oscar Wilde: Gospels. We hear them read far too often and far too badly, and
all repetition is anti-spiritual. When one returns to the Greek;
it is like going into a garden of lilies out of some, narrow and
dark house.
And to me, the pleasure is doubled by the reflection that it is
extremely probable that we have the actual terms, the IPSISSIMA
VERBA, used by Christ. It was always supposed that Christ talked
in Aramaic. Even Renan thought so. But now we know that the
Galilean peasants, like the Irish peasants of our own day, were
bilingual, and that Greek was the ordinary language of intercourse
all over Palestine, as indeed all over the Eastern world. I never
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Underdogs by Mariano Azuela: eral opinion:
"What the hell, boys! Every spider's got to spin his
own web now!"
III
In Zacatecas and Aguascalientes, in the little country
towns and the neighboring communities, haciendas and
ranches were deserted. When one of the officers found
a barrel of tequila, the event assumed miraculous propor-
tions. Everything was conducted with secrecy and care;
deep mystery was preserved to oblige the soldiers to
leave on the morrow before sunrise under Anastasio and
The Underdogs |
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 Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen: Denny tempted me further by his account of their present
quarters, and the very great attentions and excellent
acquaintances Meryton had procured them. Society, I own, is
necessary to me. I have been a disappointed man, and my spirits
will not bear solitude. I MUST have employment and society.
A military life is not what I was intended for, but circumstances
have now made it eligible. The church OUGHT to have been
my profession-- I was brought up for the church, and I should at
this time have been in possession of a most valuable living, had it
pleased the gentleman we were speaking of just now."
"Indeed!"
Pride and Prejudice |
