| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Bride of Lammermoor by Walter Scott: beehives, by the produce of which she lived, that "woman old"
whom Lucy had brought her father hither to visit.
Whatever there had been which was disastrous in her fortune,
whatever there was miserable in her dwelling, it was easy to
judge by the first glance that neither years, poverty,
misfortune, nor infirmity had broken the spirit of this
remarkable woman.
She occupied a turf seat, placed under a weeping birch of
unusual magnitude and age, as Judah is represented sitting under
her palm-tree, with an air at once of majesty and of dejection.
Her figure was tall, commanding, and but little bent by the
The Bride of Lammermoor |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Personal Record by Joseph Conrad: "Your master did not take you to town with him, then?"
"I am the head servant, and he leaves me in charge of the house.
It's a strong, young chap that travels with our master. If--God
forbid--there was some accident on the road, he would be of much
more use than I."
Glancing through the window, he saw the priest arguing vehemently
in the thick of the crowd, which seemed subdued by his
interference. Three or four men, however, were talking with the
Cossacks at the door.
"And you don't think your master has gone to join the rebels
maybe--eh?" asked the officer.
A Personal Record |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Aesop's Fables by Aesop: dainty food, and sat down while he gave his orders to his
servants. The Lapdog jumped into his master's lap, and lay there
blinking while the Farmer stroked his ears. The Ass, seeing this,
broke loose from his halter and commenced prancing about in
imitation of the Lapdog. The Farmer could not hold his sides with
laughter, so the Ass went up to him, and putting his feet upon the
Farmer's shoulder attempted to climb into his lap. The Farmer's
servants rushed up with sticks and pitchforks and soon taught the
Ass that
.Clumsy jesting is no joke.
The Lion and the Mouse
Aesop's Fables |
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 Alkahest by Honore de Balzac: yard, and was used exclusively as the family dwelling. The first room
on the ground-floor was a parlor, lighted by two windows on the court-
yard, and two more looking out upon a garden which was of the same
size as the house. Two glass doors, placed exactly opposite to each
other, led at one end of the room to the garden, at the other to the
court-yard, and were in line with the archway and the street door; so
that a visitor entering the latter could see through to the greenery
which draped the lower end of the garden. The front building, which
was reserved for receptions and the lodging-rooms of guests, held many
objects of art and accumulated wealth, but none of them equalled in
the eyes of a Claes, nor indeed in the judgment of a connoisseur, the
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