| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen: what would it have availed? Would he have been less
gay or less happy in the smiles of your sister? No,
he had already done that, which no man who CAN feel
for another would do. He had left the girl whose
youth and innocence he had seduced, in a situation of
the utmost distress, with no creditable home, no help,
no friends, ignorant of his address! He had left her,
promising to return; he neither returned, nor wrote,
nor relieved her."
"This is beyond every thing!" exclaimed Elinor.
"His character is now before you; expensive, dissipated,
Sense and Sensibility |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin: that the production of new forms has caused the extinction of about the
same number of old forms.
The competition will generally be most severe, as formerly explained and
illustrated by examples, between the forms which are most like each other
in all respects. Hence the improved and modified descendants of a species
will generally cause the extermination of the parent-species; and if many
new forms have been developed from any one species, the nearest allies of
that species, i.e. the species of the same genus, will be the most liable
to extermination. Thus, as I believe, a number of new species descended
from one species, that is a new genus, comes to supplant an old genus,
belonging to the same family. But it must often have happened that a new
On the Origin of Species |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Bunner Sisters by Edith Wharton: bonnet with forget-me-nots of her own making. Ann Eliza brought
out her mosaic brooch, a cashmere scarf of their mother's was taken
from its linen cerements, and thus adorned Evelina
blushingly departed with Mr. Ramy, while the elder sister sat down
in her place at the pinking-machine.
It seemed to Ann Eliza that she was alone for hours, and she
was surprised, when she heard Evelina tap on the door, to find that
the clock marked only half-past ten.
"It must have gone wrong again," she reflected as she rose to
let her sister in.
The evening had been brilliantly interesting, and several
|
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 Koran: apostle, and when they turned their backs away from him and said,
'Taught! mad!' Verily, we will remove the torment a little, (but) ye
will surely return!
On the day when we will assault with the great assault, verily, we
will take vengeance.
And we already tried the people of Pharaoh when there came to them a
noble apostle: 'Send back to me God's servants; verily, I am to you
a faithful apostle;' and, 'Exalt not yourselves above God; verily, I
come to you with obvious authority. And, verily, I seek refuge in my
Lord and your Lord, that ye stone me not. And if ye believe not in
me then let me alone!'
The Koran |
