| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Village Rector by Honore de Balzac: ravines and gorges all send their streams into a little valley which
is several feet below the level of your plain. To-day I have
discovered the reason of this phenomenon: from the Roche-Vive to
Montegnac, at the foot of the mountains, runs a shelf or barricade of
rock, varying in height from twenty to thirty feet; there is not a
break in it from end to end; and it is formed of a species of rock
which Monsieur Bonnet calls schist. The soil above it, which is of
course softer than rock, has been hollowed out by the action of the
water, which is turned at right angles by the barricade of rock, and
thus flows naturally into the Gabou. The trees and underbrush of the
forest conceal this formation and the hollowing out of the soil. But
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Collected Articles by Frederick Douglass: The appeal was to the people, and the verdict was worthy of the tribunal.
Upon an occasion of his own selection, with the advice and approval
of his astute Secretary, soon after the members of the Congress had returned
to their constituents, the President quitted the executive mansion,
sandwiched himself between two recognized heroes,--men whom the whole country
delighted to honor,--and, with all the advantage which such company
could give him, stumped the country from the Atlantic to the Mississippi,
advocating everywhere his policy as against that of Congress.
It was a strange sight, and perhaps the most disgraceful exhibition
ever made by any President; but, as no evil is entirely unmixed,
good has come of this, as from many others. Ambitious, unscrupulous,
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Oedipus Trilogy by Sophocles: OEDIPUS
Well argued; but no living man can hope
To force the gods to speak against their will.
CHORUS
May I then say what seems next best to me?
OEDIPUS
Aye, if there be a third best, tell it too.
CHORUS
My liege, if any man sees eye to eye
With our lord Phoebus, 'tis our prophet, lord
Teiresias; he of all men best might guide
Oedipus Trilogy |
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 A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare: And heere am I, and wood within this wood,
Because I cannot meet my Hermia.
Hence, get thee gone, and follow me no more
Hel. You draw me, you hard-hearted Adamant,
But yet you draw not Iron, for my heart
Is true as steele. Leaue you your power to draw,
And I shall haue no power to follow you
Deme. Do I entice you? do I speake you faire?
Or rather doe I not in plainest truth,
Tell you I doe not, nor I cannot loue you?
Hel. And euen for that doe I loue thee the more;
A Midsummer Night's Dream |
