| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Mirror of the Sea by Joseph Conrad: moustaches and his remorseless eyes set off by the shadow of the
deep hood, he looked piratical and monkish and darkly initiated
into the most awful mysteries of the sea.
XLIII.
Anyway, he was perfect, as Dona Rita had declared. The only thing
unsatisfactory (and even inexplicable) about our Dominic was his
nephew, Cesar. It was startling to see a desolate expression of
shame veil the remorseless audacity in the eyes of that man
superior to all scruples and terrors.
"I would never have dared to bring him on board your balancelle,"
he once apologized to me. "But what am I to do? His mother is
The Mirror of the Sea |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Before Adam by Jack London: I learned the advantage of the narrow-mouthed caves.
It was just daylight when old Saber-Tooth, the tiger,
walked into the open space. Two of the Folk were
already up. They made a rush for it. Whether they
were panic-stricken, or whether he was too close on
their heels for them to attempt to scramble up the
bluff to the crevices, I do not know; but at any rate
they dashed into the wide-mouthed cave wherein Lop-Ear
and I had played the afternoon before.
What happened inside there was no way of telling, but
it is fair to conclude that the two Folk slipped
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Awakening & Selected Short Stories by Kate Chopin: lovers, still exchanging their vows and sighs. The lovers got up,
with only a silent protest, and walked slowly away somewhere else.
The children possessed themselves of the tent, and Mrs.
Pontellier went over to join them.
Madame Ratignolle begged Robert to accompany her to the house;
she complained of cramp in her limbs and stiffness of the joints.
She leaned draggingly upon his arm as they walked.
VIII
"Do me a favor, Robert," spoke the pretty woman at his side,
almost as soon as she and Robert had started their slow, homeward
way. She looked up in his face, leaning on his arm beneath the
Awakening & Selected Short Stories |
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 King James Bible: altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye
ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.
ACT 17:24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that
he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
ACT 17:25 Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed
any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;
ACT 17:26 And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on
all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before
appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;
ACT 17:27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel
after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:
King James Bible |
