| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Myths and Myth-Makers by John Fiske: growled fiercely and barked. He must, I think, have reasoned
to himself, in a rapid and unconscious manner, that movement
without any apparent cause indicated the presence of some
strange living agent, and no stranger had a right to be on his
territory." Darwin, Descent of Man, Vol. 1. p. 64. Without
insisting upon all the details of this explanation, one may
readily grant, I think, that in the dog, as in the savage,
there is an undisturbed association between motion and a
living motor agency; and that out of a multitude of just such
associations common to both, the savage, with his greater
generalizing power, frames a truly fetichistic conception.
Myths and Myth-Makers |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare: Sometime a horse Ile be, sometime a hound:
A hogge, a headlesse beare, sometime a fire,
And neigh, and barke, and grunt, and rore, and burne,
Like horse, hound, hog, beare, fire, at euery turne.
Enter.
Enter Piramus with the Asse head.
Bot. Why do they run away? This is a knauery of
them to make me afeard.
Enter Snowt
Sn. O Bottom, thou art chang'd; What doe I see on
thee?
A Midsummer Night's Dream |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Gobseck by Honore de Balzac: across it with a sharp grating sound of the rings on the rod, then he
sat down again.
" 'This morning,' he said, 'I had only two amounts to collect; the
rest of the bills that were due I gave away instead of cash to my
customers yesterday. So much saved, you see, for when I discount a
bill I always deduct two francs for a hired brougham--expenses of
collection. A pretty thing it would be, would it not, if my clients
were to set ME trudging all over Paris for half-a-dozen francs of
discount, when no man is my master, and I only pay seven francs in the
shape of taxes?
" 'The first bill for a thousand francs was presented by a young
Gobseck |
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 Daisy Miller by Henry James: Winterbourne stood looking after her; and as she moved away,
drawing her muslin furbelows over the gravel, said to himself
that she had the tournure of a princess.
He had, however, engaged to do more than proved feasible, in promising
to present his aunt, Mrs. Costello, to Miss Daisy Miller.
As soon as the former lady had got better of her headache,
he waited upon her in her apartment; and, after the proper
inquiries in regard to her health, he asked her if she had
observed in the hotel an American family--a mamma, a daughter,
and a little boy.
"And a courier?" said Mrs. Costello. "Oh yes, I have observed them.
|
