| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy: A hand seized the lantern, the door was opened, the
rays burst out from their prison, and Bathsheba beheld
her position with astonishment.
The man to whom she was hooked was brilliant in
brass and scarlet. He was a soldier. His sudden
appearance was to darkness what the sound of a trumpet
is to silense. Gloom, the genius loci at all times hitherto,
was now totally overthrown, less by the lantern-light
than by what the lantern lighted. The contrast of this
revelation with her anticipations of some sinister figure
in sombre garb was so great that it had upon her the
Far From the Madding Crowd |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Lily of the Valley by Honore de Balzac: Deslandes, and pointed out the threatening symptoms that might oblige
us to send for him. I asked the countess to let me sit up the
alternate nights and then, not without difficulty, I persuaded her to
go to bed on the third night. When the house was still and the count
sleeping I heard a groan from Henriette's room. My anxiety was so keen
that I went to her. She was kneeling before the crucifix bathed in
tears. "My God!" she cried; "if this be the cost of a murmur, I will
never complain again."
"You have left him!" she said on seeing me.
"I heard you moaning, and I was frightened."
"Oh, I!" she said; "I am well."
The Lily of the Valley |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Paz by Honore de Balzac: eccentric person of the Chevalier du Rouvre, a younger son of the
house, an old bachelor who had become very rich by speculating in
lands and houses. The Marquis de Ronquerolles had the misfortune to
lose both his children at the time of the cholera, and the only son of
Madame de Serizy, a young soldier of great promise, perished in Africa
in the affair of the Makta. In these days rich families stand between
the danger of impoverishing their children if they have too many, or
of extinguishing their names if they have too few,--a singular result
of the Code which Napoleon never thought of. By a curious turn of
fortune Clementine became, in spite of her father having squandered
his substance on Florine (one of the most charming actresses in
|
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 Golden Sayings of Epictetus by Epictetus: silver! your vessels may be of gold, but your reason, your
principles, your accepted views, your inclinations, your desires
are of earthenware.
XCV
To you, all you have seems small: to me, all I have seems
great. Your desire is insatiable, mine is satisfied. See children
thrusting their hands into a narrow-necked jar, and striving to
pull out the nuts and figs it contains: if they fill the hand,
they cannot pull it out again, and then they fall to tears.--
"Let go a few of them, and then you can draw out the rest!"--
You, too, let your desire go! covet not many things, and you will
The Golden Sayings of Epictetus |
