| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Man in Lower Ten by Mary Roberts Rinehart: He had been interested, but inclined to be amused, until I came to
the broken chain. Then he had whistled softly.
"But there are tons of fine gold chains made every year," he said.
"Why in the world do you think that the - er - smeary piece came
from that necklace?"
I had looked around. Johnson was far behind, scraping the mud off
his feet with a piece of stick.
"I have the short end of the chain in the sealskin bag," I reminded
him. "When I couldn't sleep this morning I thought I would settle
it, one way or the other. It was hell to go along the way I had
been doing. And - there's no doubt about it, Rich. It's the same
The Man in Lower Ten |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from An Inland Voyage by Robert Louis Stevenson: booths, we had our question answered; for there was our friend
busily fiddling for the peasants to caper to. He was a wandering
violinist.
A troop of strollers once came to the inn where I was staying, in
the department of Seine et Marne. There was a father and mother;
two daughters, brazen, blowsy hussies, who sang and acted, without
an idea of how to set about either; and a dark young man, like a
tutor, a recalcitrant house-painter, who sang and acted not amiss.
The mother was the genius of the party, so far as genius can be
spoken of with regard to such a pack of incompetent humbugs; and
her husband could not find words to express his admiration for her
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Royalty Restored/London Under Charles II by J. Fitzgerald Molloy: by making a farther stir in the business you may divert me from
my resolution, which all the world shall never do; and I wish I
may be unhappy in this world and in the world to come, if I fail
in the least degree of what I have resolved, which is of making
my Lady Castlemaine of my wife's bedchamber. And whosoever I
find in any endeavours to hinder this resolution of mine (except
it be only to myself), I will be his enemy to the last moment of
my life. You know how true a friend I have been to you; if you
will oblige me eternally, make this business as easy to me as you
can, of what opinion soever you are of; for I am resolved to go
through with this matter, let what will come on it, which again I
|
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 Black Beauty by Anna Sewell: a long black train of something flew by, and was gone almost before I could
draw my breath. I turned and galloped to the further side of the meadow
as fast as I could go, and there I stood snorting with astonishment and fear.
In the course of the day many other trains went by, some more slowly;
these drew up at the station close by, and sometimes made
an awful shriek and groan before they stopped. I thought it very dreadful,
but the cows went on eating very quietly, and hardly raised their heads
as the black frightful thing came puffing and grinding past.
For the first few days I could not feed in peace; but as I found
that this terrible creature never came into the field, or did me any harm,
I began to disregard it, and very soon I cared as little
|
