| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Koran: And the moon, we have ordered for it stations, until it comes
again to be like an old dry palm branch.
Neither is it proper for it to catch up the moon, nor for the
night to outstrip the day, but each one floats on in its sky.
And a sign for them is that we bear their seed in a laden ship,
and we have created for them the like thereof whereon to ride; and
if we please, we drown them, and there is none for them to appeal
to; nor are they rescued, save by mercy from us, as a provision for
a season.
And when it is said to them, 'Fear what is before you and what is
behind you, haply ye may obtain mercy and thou bringest them not any
The Koran |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Moon-Face and Other Stories by Jack London: is a pretty one, and it has a history. Hautbois--there's the French of it.
haut, meaning high, and bois, wood. In English it becomes hautboy, a wooden
musical instrument of two-foot tone, I believe, played with a double reed, an
oboe, in fact. You remember in 'Henry IV'--
"'The case of a treble hautboy
Was a mansion for him, a court.'
From this to ho-boy is but a step, and for that matter the English used the
terms interchangeably. But--and mark you, the leap paralyzes one--crossing the
Western Ocean, in New York City, hautboy, or ho-boy, becomes the name by which
the night-scavenger is known. In a way one understands its being born of the
contempt for wandering players and musical fellows. But see the beauty of it!
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Damnation of Theron Ware by Harold Frederic: with a desire to say more about it. He had never clearly
realized before what a genuine grievance it was.
The moisture at the top of his nose merged itself into
tears in the corners of his eyes, as the cruel enormity
of the sacrifice he had made in his youth rose before him.
His whole life had been fettered and darkened by it.
He turned his gaze from the swings toward Celia, to claim
the sympathy he knew she would feel for him.
But Celia was otherwise engaged. A young man had
come up to her--a tall and extremely thin young man,
soberly dressed, and with a long, gaunt, hollow-eyed face,
The Damnation of Theron Ware |
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 Emma McChesney & Co. by Edna Ferber: "Bad! It's like a drink of cool spring water after too much
champagne. In those miserable South American hotels, how I used
to long for the orderliness and quiet of this!"
She took off hat and coat. In a vase on the desk, a cluster of
yellow chrysanthemums shook their shaggy heads in welcome. Emma
McChesney's quick eye jumped to them, then to Buck, who had come
in and was surveying the scene appreciatively.
"You--of course." She indicated the flowers with a nod and a
radiant smile.
"Sorry--no. The office staff did that. There's a card of
welcome, I believe."
Emma McChesney & Co. |
