| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Iliad by Homer: the place where they would have her lie; there they cast out
their mooring-stones and made fast the hawsers. They then got out
upon the sea-shore and landed the hecatomb for Apollo; Chryseis
also left the ship, and Ulysses led her to the altar to deliver
her into the hands of her father. "Chryses," said he, "King
Agamemnon has sent me to bring you back your child, and to offer
sacrifice to Apollo on behalf of the Danaans, that we may
propitiate the god, who has now brought sorrow upon the Argives."
So saying he gave the girl over to her father, who received her
gladly, and they ranged the holy hecatomb all orderly round the
altar of the god. They washed their hands and took up the
The Iliad |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Lady Susan by Jane Austen: make herself and her family uneasy by apprehending an event which no one
but herself, I can affirm, would ever have thought possible. To impute such
a design to Lady Susan would be taking from her every claim to that
excellent understanding which her bitterest enemies have never denied her;
and equally low must sink my pretensions to common sense if I am suspected
of matrimonial views in my behaviour to her. Our difference of age must be
an insuperable objection, and I entreat you, my dear father, to quiet your
mind, and no longer harbour a suspicion which cannot he more injurious to
your own peace than to our understandings. I can have no other view in
remaining with Lady Susan, than to enjoy for a short time (as you have
yourself expressed it) the conversation of a woman of high intellectual
Lady Susan |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Reef by Edith Wharton: "Yet I'm backing him up." She paused. "I wonder if you'll
understand? What I've most wanted for him, and shall want
for Effie, is that they shall always feel free to make their
own mistakes, and never, if possible, be persuaded to make
other people's. Even if Owen's marriage is a mistake, and
has to be paid for, I believe he'll learn and grow in the
paying. Of course I can't make Madame de Chantelle see
this; but I can remind her that, with his character--his big
rushes of impulse, his odd intervals of ebb and apathy--she
may drive him into some worse blunder if she thwarts him
now."
|
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 Rig Veda: Bull in
the darksome nights, the Red Bull in the darksome nights.
7 O Agni, with thy lofty beams, with thy pure brilliancy, O
God,
Kindled, Most Youthful One! by Bharadvaja's hand, shine on
us, O pure
God, with wealth, shine, Purifier! splendidly.
8 Thou art the Lord of house and home of all the tribes, O
Agni, of
all tribes of men.
Guard with a hundred forts thy kindler from distress, through
The Rig Veda |
