| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Poems by T. S. Eliot: Are suspect, thought to be in league;
Therefore the man with heavy eyes
Declines the gambit, shows fatigue,
Leaves the room and reappears
Outside the window, leaning in,
Branches of wisteria
Circumscribe a golden grin;
The host with someone indistinct
Converses at the door apart,
The nightingales are singing near
The Convent of the Sacred Heart,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Gobseck by Honore de Balzac: Gobseck. The house was in confusion, and under cover of it we walked
up into the little salon adjoining the death-chamber. The three
children were there in tears, with two priests, who had come to watch
with the dead. Ernest came over to me, and said that his mother
desired to be alone in the Count's room.
" 'Do not go in,' he said; and I admired the child for his tone and
gesture; 'she is praying there.'
"Gobseck began to laugh that soundless laugh of his, but I felt too
much touched by the feeling in Ernest's little face to join in the
miser's sardonic amusement. When Ernest saw that we moved towards the
door, he planted himself in front of it, crying out, 'Mamma, here are
Gobseck |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne: the mountain-sides, now suspended over precipices, avoiding abrupt angles
by bold curves, plunging into narrow defiles, which seemed to have
no outlet. The locomotive, its great funnel emitting a weird light,
with its sharp bell, and its cow-catcher extended like a spur,
mingled its shrieks and bellowings with the noise of torrents and cascades,
and twined its smoke among the branches of the gigantic pines.
There were few or no bridges or tunnels on the route. The railway
turned around the sides of the mountains, and did not attempt to violate
nature by taking the shortest cut from one point to another.
The train entered the State of Nevada through the Carson Valley
about nine o'clock, going always northeasterly; and at midday reached Reno,
Around the World in 80 Days |
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 King James Bible: Ahab killed sheep and oxen for him in abundance, and for the people that
he had with him, and persuaded him to go up with him to Ramothgilead.
CH2 18:3 And Ahab king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat king of Judah,
Wilt thou go with me to Ramothgilead? And he answered him, I am as thou
art, and my people as thy people; and we will be with thee in the war.
CH2 18:4 And Jehoshaphat said unto the king of Israel, Enquire, I pray
thee, at the word of the LORD to day.
CH2 18:5 Therefore the king of Israel gathered together of prophets
four hundred men, and said unto them, Shall we go to Ramothgilead to
battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up; for God will deliver
it into the king's hand.
King James Bible |
