| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Talisman by Walter Scott: All this while, and in the midst of a clamour and confusion which
would better have become a German tavern during a fair than the
tent of a sovereign prince, the Archduke was waited upon with a
minuteness of form and observance which showed how anxious he was
to maintain rigidly the state and character to which his
elevation had entitled him. He was served on the knee, and only
by pages of noble blood, fed upon plate of silver, and drank his
Tokay and Rhenish wines from a cup of gold. His ducal mantle was
splendidly adorned with ermine, his coronet might have equalled
in value a royal crown, and his feet, cased in velvet shoes (the
length of which, peaks included, might be two feet), rested upon
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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 Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde: from your card, are Uncle Jack's brother, my cousin Ernest, my
wicked cousin Ernest.
ALGERNON. Oh! I am not really wicked at all, cousin Cecily. You
mustn't think that I am wicked.
CECILY. If you are not, then you have certainly been deceiving us
all in a very inexcusable manner. I hope you have not been leading
a double life, pretending to be wicked and being really good all
the time. That would be hypocrisy.
ALGERNON. [Looks at her in amazement.] Oh! Of course I have been
rather reckless.
CECILY. I am glad to hear it.
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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 Camille by Alexandre Dumas: "Don't speak to me like that, I entreat you."
"Oh, make yourself easy," she continued, laughing; "however short
a time I have to live, I shall live longer than you will love
me!"
And she went singing into the dining-room.
"Where is Nanine?" she said, seeing Gaston and Prudence alone.
"She is asleep in your room, waiting till you are ready to go to
bed," replied Prudence.
"Poor thing, I am killing her! And now gentlemen, it is time to
go."
Ten minutes after, Gaston and I left the house. Marguerite shook
Camille |
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 Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbot: which may be represented by 3^2.
Upon this, my Grandson, again returning to his former suggestion,
took me up rather suddenly and exclaimed, "Well, then,
if a Point by moving three inches, makes a Line of three inches
represented by 3; and if a straight Line of three inches,
moving parallel to itself, makes a Square of three inches every way,
represented by 3^2; it must be that a Square of three inches
every way, moving somehow parallel to itself (but I don't see how)
must make Something else (but I don't see what) of three inches
every way -- and this must be represented by 3^3."
"Go to bed," said I, a little ruffled by this interruption:
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions |
