| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift: allowed to any but persons of the highest rank, when they desire
an admittance. Nay, sometimes the floor is strewed with dust on
purpose, when the person to be admitted happens to have powerful
enemies at court; and I have seen a great lord with his mouth so
crammed, that when he had crept to the proper distance from the
throne; he was not able to speak a word. Neither is there any
remedy; because it is capital for those, who receive an audience
to spit or wipe their mouths in his majesty's presence. There is
indeed another custom, which I cannot altogether approve of:
when the king has a mind to put any of his nobles to death in a
gentle indulgent manner, he commands the floor to be strewed with
Gulliver's Travels |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Goodness of St. Rocque and Other Stories by Alice Dunbar: about you and Louisette. Just three hours ago he had a bad
hemorrhage, and he died from weakness. Just three hours ago. He
said he wanted to get home and give Louisette her diamond ring,
when the bayou overflowed."
MR. BAPTISTE
He might have had another name; we never knew. Some one had
christened him Mr. Baptiste long ago in the dim past, and it
sufficed. No one had ever been known who had the temerity to ask
him for another cognomen, for though he was a mild-mannered
little man, he had an uncomfortable way of shutting up
The Goodness of St. Rocque and Other Stories |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Allan Quatermain by H. Rider Haggard: the hall save ourselves and the guards, whom she motioned to stay.
When they were all gone she bent forward and, smiling sweetly,
partially by signs and partially by exclamations made it clear
to us that she was very anxious to know where we came from.
The difficulty was how to explain, but at last an idea struck
me. I had my large pocket-book in my pocket and a pencil. Taking
it out, I made a little sketch of a lake, and then as best I
could I drew the underground river and the lake at the other
end. When I had done this I advanced to the steps of the throne
and gave it to her. She understood it at once and clapped her
hands with delight, and then descending from the throne took
Allan Quatermain |
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 Prufrock/Other Observations by T. S. Eliot: And in short, I was afraid.
And would it have been worth it, after all,
After the cups, the marmalade, the tea,
Among the porcelain, among some talk of you and me,
Would it have been worth while,
To have bitten off the matter with a smile,
To have squeezed the universe into a ball
To roll it toward some overwhelming question,
To say: "I am Lazarus, come from the dead,
Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all"--
If one, settling a pillow by her head,
Prufrock/Other Observations |
