| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Poems of Goethe, Bowring, Tr. by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: IF to her eyes' bright lustre I were blind,
No longer would they serve my life to gild.
The will of destiny must be fulfilid,--
This knowing, I withdrew with sadden'd mind.
No further happiness I now could find:
The former longings of my heart were still'd;
I sought her looks alone, whereon to build
My joy in life,--all else was left behind.
Wine's genial glow, the festal banquet gay,
Ease, sleep, and friends, all wonted pleasures glad
I spurn'd, till little there remain'd to prove.
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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 Black Dwarf by Walter Scott: youth--spadille and basto in age, shall succeed each other as
objects of pursuit--flowers and butterflies in spring--
butterflies and thistle-down in summer--withered leaves in autumn
and winter--all pursued, all caught, all flung aside.
--Stand apart; your fortune is said."
"All CAUGHT, however," retorted the laughing fair one, who was a
cousin of Miss Vere's; "that's something, Nancy," she continued,
turning to the timid damsel who had first approached the Dwarf;
"will you ask your fortune?"
"Not for worlds," said she, drawing back; "I have heard enough of
yours."
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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 United States Declaration of Independence: with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions,
to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative Powers,
incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large
for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed
to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States;
for that purpose obstructing the Laws of Naturalization of Foreigners;
refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither,
and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent
United States Declaration of Independence |
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 Dark Lady of the Sonnets by George Bernard Shaw: make me dream. Your voice has all manner of loveliness in it. Grudge
me not a short hour of its music.
THE LADY. Sir: you are overbold. Season your admiration for a while
with--
THE MAN. _[holding up his hand to stop her]_ "Season your admiration
for a while--"
THE LADY. Fellow: do you dare mimic me to my face?
THE MAN. Tis music. Can you not hear? When a good musician sings a
song, do you not sing it and sing it again till you have caught and
fixed its perfect melody? Season your admiration for a while": God!
the history of man's heart is in that one word admiration.
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