| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Symposium by Xenophon: Crit. That will I, or prove myself a shabby sort of person.
Soc. Well, and what is it you pride yourself upon, Antisthenes?
On wealth (he answered).
Whereupon Hermogenes inquired: Had he then a large amount of
money?[17]
[17] i.e. "out at interest," or, "in the funds," as we should say.
Not one sixpence:[18] that I swear to you (he answered).
[18] Lit. "not an obol" = "a threepenny bit," circa.
Herm. Then you possess large property in land?
Ant. Enough, I daresay, for the youngster there, Autolycus, to dust
himself withal.[19]
The Symposium |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Bride of Lammermoor by Walter Scott: lore is concerned. She is blind, poor old soul, but when she
speaks to you, you would think she has some way of looking into
your very heart. I am sure I often cover my face, or turn it
away, for it seems as if she saw one change colour, though she
has been blind these twenty years. She is worth visiting, were
it but to say you have seen a blind and paralytic old woman have
so much acuteness of perception and dignity of manners. I assure
you, she might be a countess from her language and behaviour.
Come, you must go to see Alice; we are not a quarter of a mile
from her cottage."
"All this, my dear," said the Lord Keeper, "is no answer to my
The Bride of Lammermoor |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Margret Howth: A Story of To-day by Rebecca Harding Davis: Putting her damp shawl off, she sat down on the floor, leaning
her head on a low chair,--one her father had given her for a
Christmas gift when she was little. How fond Holmes and her
father used to be of each other! Every Christmas he spent with
them. She remembered them all now. "He was sitting by her now,
holding her hand in his." She said that over to herself, though
it was not hard to understand.
After a long time, her mother came with a candle to the door.
"Good-night, Margret. Why, your hair is wet, child!"
For Margret, kissing her good-night, had laid her head down a
minute on her breast. She stroked the hair a moment, and then
Margret Howth: A Story of To-day |
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 Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy: delight and importance of this meeting grew ever greater in her
imagination. She did not even put to herself the question how to
arrange it. It seemed to her natural and simple to see her son
when she should be in the same town with him. But on her arrival
in Petersburg she was suddenly made distinctly aware of her
present position in society, and she grasped the fact that to
arrange this meeting was no easy matter.
She had now been two days in Petersburg. The thought of her son
never left her for a single instant, but she had not yet seen
him. To go straight to the house, where she might meet Alexey
Alexandrovitch, that she felt she had no right to do. She might
Anna Karenina |
