| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Bride of Lammermoor by Walter Scott: The servants left the hall; and the door was no sooner shut than
the Lord Keeper began to apologise for the rudeness of his
mirth; and Lucy to hope she had given no pain or offence to the
kind-hearted faithful old man.
"Caleb and I must both learn, madam, to undergo with good
humour, or at least with patience, the ridicule which everywhere
attaches itself to poverty."
"You do yourself injustice, Master of Ravenswood, on my word of
honour," answered his elder guest. "I believe I know more of
your affairs than you do yourself, and I hope to show you that I
am interested in them; and that--in short, that your prospects
The Bride of Lammermoor |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen: and to a woman in Mrs. Dashwood's situation, with only
common feelings, must have been highly unpleasing;--
but in HER mind there was a sense of honor so keen,
a generosity so romantic, that any offence of the kind,
by whomsoever given or received, was to her a source
of immoveable disgust. Mrs. John Dashwood had never
been a favourite with any of her husband's family;
but she had had no opportunity, till the present,
of shewing them with how little attention to the comfort
of other people she could act when occasion required it.
So acutely did Mrs. Dashwood feel this ungracious
Sense and Sensibility |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs: cradle came the plaintive wailing of a babe.
Noiselessly Kerchak entered, crouching for the charge; and
then John Clayton rose with a sudden start and faced them.
The sight that met his eyes must have frozen him with horror,
for there, within the door, stood three great bull apes,
while behind them crowded many more; how many he never
knew, for his revolvers were hanging on the far wall beside
his rifle, and Kerchak was charging.
When the king ape released the limp form which had been
John Clayton, Lord Greystoke, he turned his attention toward
the little cradle; but Kala was there before him, and
Tarzan of the Apes |
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 Herland by Charlotte Gilman: "If it's there," I cautiously suggested.
"Oh, don't croak, Van! If it isn't there, we'll find our way down
somehow--the boat's there, I guess."
It was hard on Terry, so hard that he finally persuaded us to
consider a plan of escape. It was difficult, it was highly dangerous,
but he declared that he'd go alone if we wouldn't go with him, and of
course we couldn't think of that.
It appeared he had made a pretty careful study of the environment.
From our end window that faced the point of the promontory we could get
a fair idea of the stretch of wall, and the drop below. Also from the
roof we could make out more, and even, in one place, glimpse a sort of
Herland |
