| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy: were apparently regarded not as brick residences, pollards, meadows;
but as human dwellings in the abstract, vegetation, and the wide
dark world.
He found the way to the little lane, and knocked at the door of Jude's house.
Jude had just retired to bed, and Sue was about to enter her chamber adjoining
when she heard the knock and came down.
"Is this where Father lives?" asked the child.
"Who?"
"Mr. Fawley, that's his name."
Sue ran up to Jude's room and told him, and he hurried down as soon
as he could, though to her impatience he seemed long.
Jude the Obscure |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from King James Bible: LEV 16:15 Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for
the people, and bring his blood within the vail, and do with that blood
as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy
seat, and before the mercy seat:
LEV 16:16 And he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of
the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their
transgressions in all their sins: and so shall he do for the tabernacle
of the congregation, that remaineth among them in the midst of their
uncleanness.
LEV 16:17 And there shall be no man in the tabernacle of the
congregation when he goeth in to make an atonement in the holy place,
King James Bible |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Underground City by Jules Verne: opportunity of exchanging talk, and circulating the stories
which had their origin in the mine, from one pit to another.
These accounts were transmitted with marvelous rapidity,
passing from mouth to mouth, and gaining in wonder as they went.
Two men, however, better educated and with more practical
minds than the rest, had always resisted this temptation.
They in no degree believed in the intervention of spirits,
elves, or goblins. These two were Simon Ford and his son.
And they proved it by continuing to inhabit the dismal crypt,
after the desertion of the Dochart pit. Perhaps good Madge,
like every Highland woman, had some leaning towards the supernatural.
|
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 The Snow Image by Nathaniel Hawthorne: anybody else, began to run round after his tail, which, to
heighten the absurdity of the proceeding, was a great deal
shorter than it should have been. Never was seen such headlong
eagerness in pursuit of an object that could not possibly be
attained; never was heard such a tremendous outbreak of growling,
snarling, barking, and snapping,--as if one end of the ridiculous
brute's body were at deadly and most unforgivable enmity with the
other. Faster and faster, round about went the cur; and faster
and still faster fled the unapproachable brevity of his tail; and
louder and fiercer grew his yells of rage and animosity; until,
utterly exhausted, and as far from the goal as ever, the foolish
The Snow Image |
