| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Memorabilia by Xenophon: choice, whom the gods approve? will you tell me that?
Not, in good sooth (replied Socrates), by running him down like a
hare, nor by decoying him like a bird, or by force like a wild
boar.[7] To capture a friend against his will is a toilsome business,
and to bind him in fetters like a slave by no means easy. Those who
are so treated are apt to become foes instead of friends.[8]
[7] Reading {kaproi}, al. {ekhthroi}, "an enemy."
[8] Or, "Hate rather than friendship is the outcome of these methods."
Cri. But how convert them into friends?
Soc. There are certain incantations, we are told, which those who know
them have only to utter, and they can make friends of whom they list;
The Memorabilia |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Yates Pride by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman: at the same time embraced and kissed her. Sophia and Anna
followed her example. Eudora opened her mouth as if to speak,
but smiled instead, a fond, proud smile. During the last fifteen
minutes of her stay Amelia had slipped out of the room with the
blue and white bundle. Now she brought it out and laid it
carefully in the carriage.
"We are always so glad to see you, dearest Eudora," said she,
"but you understand --"
"Yes," said Sophia, "you understand, Eudora dear, that there is
not the slightest haste."
Eudora nodded, and her long neck seemed to grow longer.
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Great Big Treasury of Beatrix Potter by Beatrix Potter: and his name was Nutkin.
He had a brother called
Twinkleberry, and a great many
cousins: they lived in a wood at the
edge of a lake.
In the middle of the lake there is an
island covered with trees and nut
bushes; and amongst those trees
stands a hollow oak-tree, which is the
house of an owl who is called Old
Brown.
|
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 Lair of the White Worm by Bram Stoker: audible. From such a multitude of birds the mass of sound,
individually small, assumed the volume of a storm. Surprised at the
influx of birds, to which they had been strangers so long, they all
looked towards Castra Regis, from whose high tower the great kite
had been flying as usual. But even as they looked, the cord broke,
and the great kite fell headlong in a series of sweeping dives. Its
own weight, and the aerial force opposed to it, which caused it to
rise, combined with the strong easterly breeze, had been too much
for the great length of cord holding it.
Somehow, the mishap to the kite gave new hope to Mimi. It was as
though the side issues had been shorn away, so that the main
Lair of the White Worm |
