| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson: The howling dog by the door of the house,
The bat that lies in bed at noon,
All love to be out by the light of the moon.
But all of the things that belong to the day
Cuddle to sleep to be out of her way;
And flowers and children close their eyes
Till up in the morning the sun shall arise.
XXXIII
The Swing
How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue?
A Child's Garden of Verses |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Chouans by Honore de Balzac: in the church which she had herself demanded. She trembled violently
and raised her eyes to the cross on the altar.
"A saint at last," said Francine, in a low voice.
"Give me such saints, and I'll be devilishly devout," added the count,
in a whisper.
When the priest made the customary inquiry of Mademoiselle de
Verneuil, she answered by a "yes" uttered with a deep sigh. Bending to
her husband's ear she said: "You will soon know why I have broken the
oath I made never to marry you."
After the ceremony all present passed into the dining-room, where
dinner was served, and as they took their places Jeremie, Marie's
The Chouans |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Father Damien by Robert Louis Stevenson: and observe with wonder how well you were served by your gossips,
how ill by your intelligence and sympathy; in how many points of
fact we are at one, and how widely our appreciations vary. There
is something wrong here; either with you or me. It is possible,
for instance, that you, who seem to have so many ears in Kalawao,
had heard of the affair of Mr. Chapman's money, and were singly
struck by Damien's intended wrong-doing. I was struck with that
also, and set it fairly down; but I was struck much more by the
fact that he had the honesty of mind to be convinced. I may here
tell you that it was a long business; that one of his colleagues
sat with him late into the night, multiplying arguments 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 Tanglewood Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne: by and by there came other people, who chanced to have no
homes; and, seeing how pleasant a spot it was, they built
themselves huts in the neighborhood of Phoenix's habitation.
Thus, before many years went by, a city had grown up there, in
the center of which was seen a stately palace of marble,
wherein dwelt Phoenix, clothed in a purple robe, and wearing a
golden crown upon his head. For the inhabitants of the new
city, finding that he had royal blood in his veins, had chosen
him to be their king. The very first decree of state which King
Phoenix issued was, that, if a maiden happened to arrive in the
kingdom, mounted on a snow-white bull, and calling herself
Tanglewood Tales |
