| 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: you were the first I ever had; and I shall not forget it!"
"Now, Bathsheba, was ever anybody so provoking
he said, laughing. "You know it was purely that I, as
an unmarried man, carrying on a business for you as a
very taking young woman, had a proper hard part to
play -- more particular that people knew I had a sort
of feeling for'ee; and I fancied, from the way we were
mentioned together, that it might injure your good name.
Nobody knows the heat and fret I have been caused
by it."
"And was that all?"
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 King Lear by William Shakespeare: Lear. Why came not the slave back to me when I call'd him?
Knight. Sir, he answered me in the roundest manner, he would
not.
Lear. He would not?
Knight. My lord, I know not what the matter is; but to my
judgment
your Highness is not entertain'd with that ceremonious
affection
as you were wont. There's a great abatement of kindness
appears
as well in the general dependants as in the Duke himself
King Lear |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Garden Party by Katherine Mansfield: and there was such a nice cup over, I thought, perhaps...
...Not at all, madam. I always make a cup of tea last thing. She drinks
it in bed after her prayers to warm her up. I put the kettle on when she
kneels down and I say to it, "Now you needn't be in too much of a hurry to
say your prayers." But it's always boiling before my lady is half through.
You see, madam, we know such a lot of people, and they've all got to be
prayed for--every one. My lady keeps a list of the names in a little red
book. Oh dear! whenever some one new has been to see us and my lady says
afterwards, "Ellen, give me my little red book," I feel quite wild, I do.
"There's another," I think, "keeping her out of her bed in all weathers."
And she won't have a cushion, you know, madam; she kneels on the hard
|
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 Chouans by Honore de Balzac: more like a ditch than a roadway, which led to La Vivetiere. The
carriage now advanced rapidly, leaving the escort to follow slowly
towards the manor-house, the gray roofs of which appeared and
disappeared among the trees. Some of the men lingered on the way to
knock the stiff clay of the road-bed from their shoes.
"This is devilishly like the road to Paradise," remarked Beau-Pied.
Thanks to the impatience of the postilion, Mademoiselle de Verneuil
soon saw the chateau of La Vivetiere. This house, standing at the end
of a sort of promontory, was protected and surrounded by two deep
lakelets, and could be reached only by a narrow causeway. That part of
the little peninsula on which the house and gardens were placed was
The Chouans |
