| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain: clear -- eleven. When I struck the head of the island
I never waited to blow, though I was most winded, but
I shoved right into the timber where my old camp used
to be, and started a good fire there on a high and dry
spot.
Then I jumped in the canoe and dug out for our
place, a mile and a half below, as hard as I could go.
I landed, and slopped through the timber and up the
ridge and into the cavern. There Jim laid, sound
asleep on the ground. I roused him out and says:
"Git up and hump yourself, Jim! There ain't a
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Resurrection by Leo Tolstoy: him. He had often had this feeling, of late, and explained it by
his too finely-developed aesthetic taste; still, the feeling was
a very unpleasant one. Seven years before this he had given up
military service, feeling sure that he had a talent for art, and
had looked down with some disdain at all other activity from the
height of his artistic standpoint. And now it turned out that he
had no right to do so, and therefore everything that reminded him
of all this was unpleasant. He looked at the luxurious fittings
of the studio with a heavy heart, and it was in no cheerful mood
that he entered his study, a large, lofty room fitted up with a
view to comfort, convenience, and elegant appearance. He found
Resurrection |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Secrets of the Princesse de Cadignan by Honore de Balzac: surprised, sometimes, at the caustic smile of certain women, at their
air of superiority to their husbands, and their indifference--"
She let her hand fall along the arm of her chair, without ending her
sentence, but the gesture admirably completed the speech. She saw
d'Arthez watching her flexible figure, gracefully bending in the
depths of her easy-chair, noting the folds of her gown, and the pretty
little ruffle which sported on her breast,--one of those audacities of
the toilet that are suited only to slender waists,--and she resumed
the thread of her thoughts as if she were speaking to herself:--
"But I will say no more. You writers have ended by making ridiculous
all women who think they are misunderstood, or ill-mated, and who try
|
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 Life of the Spider by J. Henri Fabre: chafing-dish, escapes through the top. Dandelion-plumes, taking
that direction, tell me so. The wafting threads cannot fail to be
carried by this flow of air and to lengthen out in the open, where
a light breeze is blowing.
I take a pair of sharp scissors and, without shaking the threads,
cut a few that are just visible at the base, where they are
thickened with an added strand. The result of this operation is
marvellous. Hanging to the flying-rope, which is borne on the wind
outside, the Spider passes through the window, suddenly flies off
and disappears. An easy way of travelling, if the conveyance
possessed a rudder that allowed the passenger to land where he
The Life of the Spider |
