| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Vendetta by Honore de Balzac: future. Too proud to persist, but amazed at a selfishness hitherto
unknown to her, the girl took a room in the lodging-house that was
nearest to that of Luigi. The son of the Portas passed all his days at
the feet of his future wife; and his youthful love, the purity of his
words, dispersed the clouds from the mind of the banished daughter;
the future was so beautiful as he painted it that she ended by smiling
joyfully, though without forgetting her father's severity.
One morning the servant of the lodging house brought to Ginevra's room
a number of trunks and packages containing stuffs, linen, clothes, and
a great quantity of other articles necessary for a young wife in
setting up a home of her own. In this welcome provision she recognized
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals by Charles Darwin: has obligingly sent me a full description of two cases.
He observed during some time, himself unseen, a very young
Dhangar woman from Nagpore, the wife of one of the gardeners,
nursing her baby who was at the point of death; and he distinctly
saw the eyebrows raised at the inner corners, the eyelids drooping,
the forehead wrinkled in the middle, the mouth slightly open,
with the corners much depressed. He then came from behind a screen
of plants and spoke to the poor woman, who started, burst into
a bitter flood of tears, and besought him to cure her baby.
The second case was that of a Hindustani man, who from illness
and poverty was compelled to sell his favourite goat.
Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Verses 1889-1896 by Rudyard Kipling: Now 'is work begins by Gawd knows when, and 'is work is never through;
'E isn't one o' the reg'lar Line, nor 'e isn't one of the crew.
'E's a kind of a giddy harumfrodite -- soldier an' sailor too!
An' after I met 'im all over the world, a-doin' all kinds of things,
Like landin' 'isself with a Gatlin' gun to talk to them 'eathen kings;
'E sleeps in an 'ammick instead of a cot,
an' 'e drills with the deck on a slew,
An' 'e sweats like a Jolly -- 'Er Majesty's Jolly -- soldier an' sailor too!
For there isn't a job on the top o' the earth the beggar don't know, nor do --
You can leave 'im at night on a bald man's 'ead, to paddle 'is own canoe --
Verses 1889-1896 |
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 Mansfield Park by Jane Austen: give her much time, or many words, but she felt her,
as Fanny's sister, to have a claim at Mansfield,
and was ready to kiss and like her; and Susan was more
than satisfied, for she came perfectly aware that nothing
but ill-humour was to be expected from aunt Norris;
and was so provided with happiness, so strong in that
best of blessings, an escape from many certain evils,
that she could have stood against a great deal more
indifference than she met with from the others.
She was now left a good deal to herself, to get acquainted
with the house and grounds as she could, and spent her
Mansfield Park |
