| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf: seemed to prove that she was at any rate receiving satisfaction.
But looking at her carefully she came to the conclusion that the
hospital nurse was only slavishly acquiescent, and that the look of
satisfaction was produced by no splendid conception of God within her.
How indeed, could she conceive anything far outside her own experience,
a woman with a commonplace face like hers, a little round red face,
upon which trivial duties and trivial spites had drawn lines, whose weak
blue eyes saw without intensity or individuality, whose features
were blurred, insensitive, and callous? She was adoring something
shallow and smug, clinging to it, so the obstinate mouth witnessed,
with the assiduity of a limpet; nothing would tear her from her
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from La Grande Breteche by Honore de Balzac: was not more than five feet two or three in height, but so well made;
and he had little hands that he kept so beautifully! Ah! you should
have seen them. He had as many brushes for his hands as a woman has
for her toilet. He had thick, black hair, a flame in his eye, a
somewhat coppery complexion, but which I admired all the same. He wore
the finest linen I have ever seen, though I have had princesses to
lodge here, and, among others, General Bertrand, the Duc and Duchesse
d'Abrantes, Monsieur Descazes, and the King of Spain. He did not eat
much, but he had such polite and amiable ways that it was impossible
to owe him a grudge for that. Oh! I was very fond of him, though he
did not say four words to me in a day, and it was impossible to have
La Grande Breteche |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Second Inaugural Address by Abraham Lincoln: computers we used then didn't have lower case at all.
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Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address
March 4, 1865
Fellow countrymen: At this second appearing to take the oath
of the presidential office, there is less occasion for an extended
Second Inaugural Address |
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 Egmont by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe: if I desire to see them, he will answer evasively; if I insist, he will produce
a paper of totally different import; and if this fail to satisfy me, he will go
on precisely as if I had never interfered. Meanwhile he will have
accomplished what I dread, and have frustrated my most cherished
schemes.
Machiavel. I wish I could contradict you.
Regent. His harshness and cruelty will again arouse the turbulent spirit,
which, with unspeakable patience, I have succeeded in quelling; I shall see
my work destroyed before my eyes, and have besides to bear the blame of his
wrongdoing.
Machiavel. Await it, your Highness.
Egmont |
