| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Christ in Flanders by Honore de Balzac: splendid ceremonies and protector of the arts, was thy friendship for
art perchance a caprice, that so thou shouldst sleep beneath
magnificent canopies? Was there not a day when, in thy fantastic
pride, though chastity and humility were prescribed to thee, thou
hadst brought all things beneath thy feet, and set thy foot on the
necks of princes; when earthly dominion, and wealth, and the mind of
man bore thy yoke? Exulting in the abasement of humanity, joying to
witness the uttermost lengths to which man's folly would go, thou hast
bidden thy lovers walk on all fours, and required of them their lands
and wealth, nay, even their wives if they were worth aught to thee.
Thou hast devoured millions of men without a cause; thou hast flung
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Soul of the Far East by Percival Lowell: domestic precedence,--whose first care, it will be remembered, was
for his father, his next for his son, and his last for his wife.
He lost his wife, it may be noted in passing. Filial piety is the
greatest of Chinese virtues. Indeed, an undutiful son is a
monstrosity, a case of moral deformity. It could now hardly be
otherwise. For a father sums up in propria persona a whole pedigree
of patriarchs whose superimposed weight of authority is practically
divine. This condition of servitude is never outgrown by the
individual, as it has never been outgrown by the race.
Our boy now begins to go to school; to a day school, it need hardly
be specified, for a boarding school would be entirely out of keeping
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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 Royalty Restored/London Under Charles II by J. Fitzgerald Molloy: Lady Castlemaine came to Richmond.
It happened on the afternoon of the day on which the favourite
arrived her majesty sat in the great drawing-room, surrounded by
a brilliant throng of noble and beautiful women and gay and
gallant men. The windows of the apartment stood open; outside
fountains splashed in the sun; music played in a distant glade:
and all the world seemed glad. And as the queen listened to
pleasant sounds of wit and gossip, murmuring around her, the
courtiers, at sound of a well-known footstep, suddenly ceasing
their discourse, fell back on either side adown the room. At
that moment the king entered, leading a lady apparelled in
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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 Sentimental Journey by Laurence Sterne: it down as a second axiom, as indisputable as the first, that she
was a widow, and wore a character of distress, - I went no further;
I got ground enough for the situation which pleased me; - and had
she remained close beside my elbow till midnight, I should have
held true to my system, and considered her only under that general
idea.
She had scarce got twenty paces distant from me, ere something
within me called out for a more particular enquiry; - it brought on
the idea of a further separation: - I might possibly never see her
more: - The heart is for saving what it can; and I wanted the
traces through which my wishes might find their way to her, in case
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