| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Second Inaugural Address by Abraham Lincoln: could not be answered--that of neither has been answered fully.
The Almighty has his own purposes. "Woe unto the world because
of offenses! for it must needs be that offenses come; but woe
to that man by whom the offense cometh." If we shall suppose
that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the
providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued
through his appointed time, he now wills to remove, and that he
gives to both North and South this terrible war, as the woe due
to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any
departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a
living God always ascribe to him? Fondly do we hope--fervently
Second Inaugural Address |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Another Study of Woman by Honore de Balzac: certain that any one but the dying woman might have misunderstood it.
A busy statesman, always thinking of the interests of France, the Duke
had a thousand odd ways on the surface, such as often lead to a man of
genius being mistaken for a madman, and of which the explanation lies
in the exquisiteness and exacting needs of their intellect. He came to
seat himself in an armchair by his wife's side, and looked fixedly at
her. The dying woman put her hand out a little way, took her husband's
and clasped it feebly; and in a low but agitated voice she said, 'My
poor dear, who is left to understand you now?' Then she died, looking
at him."
"The stories the doctor tells us," said the Comte de Vandenesse,
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Melmoth Reconciled by Honore de Balzac: raised his hand to strike him--and felt his arm paralyzed by some
invisible power that sapped his strength and nailed him to the spot.
He allowed the stranger to take him by the arm, and they walked
together to the green-room like two friends.
"Who is strong enough to resist me?" said the Englishman, addressing
him. "Do you not know that everything here on earth must obey me, that
it is in my power to do everything? I read men's thoughts, I see the
future, and I know the past. I am here, and I can be elsewhere also.
Time and space and distance are nothing to me. The whole world is at
my beck and call. I have the power of continual enjoyment and of
giving joy. I can see through walls, discover hidden treasures, and
|
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 Sesame and Lilies by John Ruskin: person of our Parliament, to be annually tormented into doing
something, in a slovenly way, for the British Museum; sullenly
apprehending that to be a place for keeping stuffed birds in, to
amuse our children. If anybody will pay for their own telescope,
and resolve another nebula, we cackle over the discernment as if it
were our own; if one in ten thousand of our hunting squires suddenly
perceives that the earth was indeed made to be something else than a
portion for foxes, and burrows in it himself, and tells us where the
gold is, and where the coals, we understand that there is some use
in that; and very properly knight him: but is the accident of his
having found out how to employ himself usefully any credit to US?
|
