| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from King James Bible: wall: for sittest thou to judge me after the law, and commandest me to
be smitten contrary to the law?
ACT 23:4 And they that stood by said, Revilest thou God's high priest?
ACT 23:5 Then said Paul, I wist not, brethren, that he was the high
priest: for it is written, Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy
people.
ACT 23:6 But when Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees, and
the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Men and brethren, I am
a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: of the hope and resurrection of the
dead I am called in question.
ACT 23:7 And when he had so said, there arose a dissension between the
King James Bible |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Vendetta by Honore de Balzac: "Monsieur's resemblance to a person we knew in Corsica, Nina Porta, is
really surprising."
"Nothing could be more natural," replied the young man, on whose face
Piombo's flaming eyes now rested. "Nina was my sister."
"Are you Luigi Porta?" asked the old man.
"Yes."
Bartolomeo rose, tottered, was forced to lean against a chair and
beckon to his wife. Elisa Piombo came to him. Then the two old people,
silently, each supporting the other, left the room, abandoning their
daughter with a sort of horror.
Luigi Porta, bewildered, looked at Ginevra, who had turned as white as
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Memoir of Fleeming Jenkin by Robert Louis Stevenson: between us, which was continued without intermission up to the last
days of his life. It commenced with a well-sustained fire of
letters on each side about the physical qualities of submarine
cables, and the practical results attainable in the way of rapid
signalling through them. Jenkin used excellently the valuable
opportunities for experiment allowed him by Newall, and his partner
Lewis Gordon, at their Birkenhead factory. Thus he began definite
scientific investigation of the copper resistance of the conductor,
and the insulating resistance and specific inductive capacity of
its gutta-percha coating, in the factory, in various stages of
manufacture; and he was the very first to introduce systematically
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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 War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy: longer and was no longer alien to him, but he himself having entered
it found in it a new enjoyment.
After dinner Natasha, at Prince Andrew's request, went to the
clavichord and began singing. Prince Andrew stood by a window
talking to the ladies and listened to her. In the midst of a phrase he
ceased speaking and suddenly felt tears choking him, a thing he had
thought impossible for him. He looked at Natasha as she sang, and
something new and joyful stirred in his soul. He felt happy and at the
same time sad. He had absolutely nothing to weep about yet he was
ready to weep. What about? His former love? The little princess? His
disillusionments?... His hopes for the future?... Yes and no. The
War and Peace |
