| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Taras Bulba and Other Tales by Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol: before, and had grown accustomed to consider them as birthmarks.
Mardokhai departed, accompanied by his comrades, who were filled with
admiration at his wisdom. Bulba remained alone. He was in a strange,
unaccustomed situation for the first time in his life; he felt uneasy.
His mind was in a state of fever. He was no longer unbending,
immovable, strong as an oak, as he had formerly been: but felt timid
and weak. He trembled at every sound, at every fresh Jewish face which
showed itself at the end of the street. In this condition he passed
the whole day. He neither ate nor drank, and his eye never for a
moment left the small window looking on the street. Finally, late at
night, Mardokhai and Yankel made their appearance. Taras's heart died
Taras Bulba and Other Tales |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Sanitary and Social Lectures by Charles Kingsley: of every untutored clod; if it dies out in him (as it too often
does), it were better for him, I often think, if he had never been
born: but the only talisman which will keep it alive, much more
develop it into its fulness, is friendly and revering intercourse
with women of higher rank than himself, between whom and him there
is a great and yet a blessed gulf fixed.
I have left to the last the most important subject of all; and
that is, what is called "visiting the poor." It is an endless
subject; if you go into details, you might write volumes on it.
All I can do this afternoon is to keep to my own key-note, and
say, Visit whom, when, and where you will; but let your visits be
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen: such attentions as to make her quarrel with my brother,
and then fly off himself?"
"I have very little to say for Frederick's motives,
such as I believe them to have been. He has his vanities
as well as Miss Thorpe, and the chief difference is, that,
having a stronger head, they have not yet injured himself.
If the effect of his behaviour does not justify him with you,
we had better not seek after the cause."
"Then you do not suppose he ever really cared about her?"
"I am persuaded that he never did."
"And only made believe to do so for mischief's sake?"
Northanger Abbey |
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 Adventure by Jack London: and their features were larger, more regular, and even handsome.
The woman--or girl, rather, he decided--walked along the veranda
toward him. The two men waited at the head of the steps, watching
curiously. The girl was angry; he could see that. Her gray eyes
were flashing, and her lips were quivering. That she had a temper,
was his thought. But the eyes were striking. He decided that they
were not gray after all, or, at least, not all gray. They were
large and wide apart, and they looked at him from under level
brows. Her face was cameo-like, so clear cut was it. There were
other striking things about her--the cowboy Stetson hat, the heavy
braids of brown hair, and the long-barrelled 38 Colt's revolver
|
