| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Of The Nature of Things by Lucretius: But accidents, in one way, of mankind,-
In other, of some region of the world.
Add, too, had been no matter, and no room
Wherein all things go on, the fire of love
Upblown by that fair form, the glowing coal
Under the Phrygian Alexander's breast,
Had ne'er enkindled that renowned strife
Of savage war, nor had the wooden horse
Involved in flames old Pergama, by a birth
At midnight of a brood of the Hellenes.
And thus thou canst remark that every act
Of The Nature of Things |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Recruit by Honore de Balzac: conciliated the good-will of those about her. Madame de Dey had fully
understood the difficulties that awaited her on coming to Carentan. To
seek to occupy a leading position would be daily defiance to the
scaffold; yet she pursued her even way. Sustained by her motherly
courage, she won the affections of the poor by comforting
indiscriminately all miseries, and she made herself necessary to the
rich by assisting their pleasures. She received the procureur of the
commune, the mayor, the judge of the district court, the public
prosecutor, and even the judges of the revolutionary tribunal.
The first four of these personages, being bachelors, courted her with
the hope of marriage, furthering their cause by either letting her see
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas: Scarcely, however, had the tapestry closed behind Athos when
she said to Mazarin:
"Cardinal, desire them to arrest that insolent fellow before
he leaves the court."
"Your majesty," answered Mazarin, "desires me to do only
what I was going to ask you to let me do. These bravoes who
resuscitate in our epoch the traditions of another reign are
troublesome; since there are two of them already there, let
us add a third."
Athos was not altogether the queen's dupe, but he was not a
man to run away on suspicion -- above all, when distinctly
Twenty Years After |
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 Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle: and see that thou bringest someone to eat with us this evening.
Meantime we will prepare a grand feast to do whosoever may come
the greater honor. And stay, good Stutely. I would have thee
take Will Scarlet with thee, for it is meet that he should become
acquaint with the ways of the forest."
"Now do I thank thee, good master," quoth Stutely, springing to his feet,
"that thou hast chosen me for this adventure. Truly, my limbs
do grow slack through abiding idly here. As for two of my six,
I will choose Midge the Miller and Arthur a Bland, for, as well
thou knowest, good master, they are stout fists at the quarterstaff.
Is it not so, Little John?"
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood |
