| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Pocket Diary Found in the Snow by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner: who threw out the call for help which had fallen into his hands.
He waited no longer to ponder over the matter, but started off at
a full run for the nearest police station. He rushed into the room
and told his story breathlessly.
They took him into the next room, the office of the commissioner
for the day. The official in charge, who had been engaged in
earnest conversation with a small, frail-looking, middle-aged man,
turned to Amster with a question as to what brought him there.
"I found this package in the snow."
"Let me see it."
Amster laid it on the table. The older man looked at it, and as
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Prince of Bohemia by Honore de Balzac: opinion, is the most logical of created beings, the child alone
excepted. In both we behold a sublime phenomenon, the unvarying
triumph of one dominant, all-excluding thought. The child's thought
changes every moment; but while it possesses him, he acts upon it with
such ardor that others give way before him, fascinated by the
ingenuity, the persistence of a strong desire. Woman is less
changeable, but to call her capricious is a stupid insult. Whenever
she acts, she is always swayed by one dominant passion; and wonderful
it is to see how she makes that passion the very centre of her world.
"Tullia was irresistible; she twisted du Bruel round her fingers, the
sky grew blue again, the evening was glorious. And ingenious writer of
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Tik-Tok of Oz by L. Frank Baum: "That's funny!" said Betsy. "What are the
'Three-Course Nuts' like?"
"Something like cocoanuts, to look at,"
explained the Ugly One. "All you have to do is to
pick one of them and then sit down and eat your
dinner. You first unscrew the top part and find a
cupfull of good soup. After you've eaten that, you
unscrew the middle part and find a hollow filled
with meat and potatoes, vegetables and a fine
salad. Eat that, and unscrew the next section, and
you come to the dessert in the bottom of the nut.
Tik-Tok of Oz |
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 Essays of Francis Bacon by Francis Bacon: tainly again, if it light well, it maketh virtue shine,
and vices blush.
Of Deformity
DEFORMED persons are commonly even with
nature; for as nature hath done ill by them,
so do they by nature; being for the most part (as
the Scripture saith) void of natural affection; and
so they have their revenge of nature. Certainly
there is a consent, between the body and the mind;
and where nature erreth in the one, she ventureth
in the other. Ubi peccat in uno, periclitatur in al-
Essays of Francis Bacon |
