The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Lady Susan by Jane Austen: She thanked me, however, most affectionately, for my kind concern in the
welfare of herself and daughter; and then said: "I am not apt to deal in
professions, my dear Mrs. Vernon, and I never had the convenient talent of
affecting sensations foreign to my heart; and therefore I trust you will
believe me when I declare, that much as I had heard in your praise before I
knew you, I had no idea that I should ever love you as I now do; and I must
further say that your friendship towards me is more particularly gratifying
because I have reason to believe that some attempts were made to prejudice
you against me. I only wish that they, whoever they are, to whom I am
indebted for such kind intentions, could see the terms on which we now are
together, and understand the real affection we feel for each other; but I
Lady Susan |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Elixir of Life by Honore de Balzac: a skeleton, and only the face was uncovered. This mummy-like
figure lay in the middle of the room. The limp clinging linen
lent itself to the outlines it shrouded--so sharp, bony, and
thin. Large violet patches had already begun to spread over the
face; the embalmers' work had not been finished too soon.
Don Juan, strong as he was in his scepticism, felt a tremor as he
opened the magic crystal flask. When he stood over that face, he
was trembling so violently, that he was actually obliged to wait
for a moment. But Don Juan had acquired an early familiarity with
evil; his morals had been corrupted by a licentious court, a
reflection worthy of the Duke of Urbino crossed his mind, and it
|
The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Breaking Point by Mary Roberts Rinehart: save her pain, and yet last night - no, it wasn't last night. It was
years and years ago, and all this time she had hated him.
It was unbearable that she had gone on hating him, all this time.
He was very thirsty, and water did not satisfy him. He wanted a
real drink. He wanted alcohol. Suddenly he wanted all the liquor
in the world. The craving came on at dawn, and after that he kicked
his weary horse on recklessly, so that it rocked and stumbled down
the trail. He had only one thought after the frenzy seized him,
and that was to get to civilization and whisky. It was as though
he saw in drunkenness his only escape from the unbearable. In all
probability he would have killed both his horse and himself in the
The Breaking Point |
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 Wheels of Chance by H. G. Wells: in following the development of the business. He distinctly
remembered himself walking across from one room to the other,--a
dignified, even an aristocratic figure, primed with considered
eloquence, intent upon a scathing remonstrance to these wretched
yokels, regarding their manners. Then incident had flickered into
incident until here he was out in a moonlit lane,--a slight, dark
figure in a group of larger, indistinct figures,--marching in a
quiet, business-like way towards some unknown horror at Buller's
yard. Fists! It was astonishing. It was terrible! In front of him
was the pallid figure of Charles, and he saw that the man in
gaiters held Charles kindly but firmly by the arm.
|