| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates by Howard Pyle: heard the words; and as he spoke he waved his cane back and forth
as though he would have struck the young lady, who, shrinking
back almost upon the deck, crouched as though to escape such a
blow. "You hussy!" he bawled out with vile oaths, too horrible
here to be set down. "What do you do here with this Yankee
supercargo, not fit for a gentlewoman to wipe her feet upon? Get
to your cabin, you hussy" (only it was something worse he called
her this time), "before I lay this cane across your shoulders!"
What with the whirling of Barnaby's brains and the passion into
which he was already melted, what with his despair and his love,
and his anger at this address, a man gone mad could scarcely be
Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Othello by William Shakespeare: She wish'd she had not heard it, yet she wish'd
That Heauen had made her such a man. She thank'd me,
And bad me, if I had a Friend that lou'd her,
I should but teach him how to tell my Story,
And that would wooe her. Vpon this hint I spake,
She lou'd me for the dangers I had past,
And I lou'd her, that she did pitty them.
This onely is the witch-craft I haue vs'd.
Here comes the Ladie: Let her witnesse it.
Enter Desdemona, Iago, Attendants.
Duke. I thinke this tale would win my Daughter too,
Othello |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Caesar's Commentaries in Latin by Julius Caesar: armatos ac victores superassent. Denique hos esse eosdem Germanos
quibuscum saepe numero Helvetii congressi non solum in suis sed etiam in
illorum finibus plerumque superarint, qui tamen pares esse nostro
exercitui non potuerint. Si quos adversum proelium et fuga Gallorum
commoveret, hos, si quaererent, reperire posse diuturnitate belli
defatigatis Gallis Ariovistum, cum multos menses castris se ac paludibus
tenuisset neque sui potestatem fecisset, desperantes iam de pugna et
dispersos subito adortum magis ratione et consilio quam virtute vicisse.
Cui rationi contra homines barbaros atque imperitos locus fuisset, hac ne
ipsum quidem sperare nostros exercitus capi posse. Qui suum timorem in
rei frumentariae simulationem angustiasque itineris conferrent, facere
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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 Rezanov by Gertrude Atherton: misery! I am too proud to speak openly to others
--but I love this man more than my soul--more
than my immortal soul. Do you hear? I am in
danger of mortal sin. Perhaps I am already in that
state. You cannot save me if he goes. I will not
pray. I will not come to the church. I will be an
outcast. If I marry him, I will be a good Catholic
to the end of my days. If I marry him I can think
of other things besides--of my church, my father,
my mother, my sisters, brothers. If he goes, I shall
pass my life thinking of nothing but him, and if it
Rezanov |
