| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Moby Dick by Herman Melville: the bees rush to the boughs. Bare-headed in the sultry sun, Ahab
stood on the bowsprit, and with one hand pushed far behind in
readiness to wave his orders to the helmsman, cast his eager glance
in the direction indicated aloft by the outstretched motionless arm
of Daggoo.
Whether the flitting attendance of the one still and solitary jet had
gradually worked upon Ahab, so that he was now prepared to connect
the ideas of mildness and repose with the first sight of the
particular whale he pursued; however this was, or whether his
eagerness betrayed him; whichever way it might have been, no sooner
did he distinctly perceive the white mass, than with a quick
Moby Dick |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from La Grenadiere by Honore de Balzac: to see that death was very near. That mistress, beautiful still, was
more careful of her appearance than she had ever been; she was at
pains to adorn her wasted self, and wore paint on her cheeks; but
often while she walked on the upper terrace with the children,
Annette's wrinkled face would peer out from between the savin trees by
the pump. The old woman would forget her work, and stand with wet
linen in her hands, scarce able to keep back her tears at the sight of
Mme. Willemsens, so little like the enchanting woman she once had
been.
The pretty house itself, once so gay and bright, looked melancholy; it
was a very quiet house now, and the family seldom left it, for the
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Koran: would say, 'Clouds in masses!'
But leave them till they meet that day of theirs whereon they
shall swoon; the day when their plotting shall avail them naught,
and they shall not be helped!
And, verily, there is a torment beside that for those who do
wrong; but most of them do not know!
But wait thou patiently for the judgment of thy Lord, for thou art
in our eyes. And celebrate the praises of thy Lord what time thou
risest, and in the night, and at the fading of the stars!
THE CHAPTER OF THE STAR
(LIII. Mecca.)
The Koran |
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 Padre Ignacio by Owen Wister: away.
At Felipe's words the voices had stopped, as a clock finishes striking.
Silence, strained like expectation, filled the Padre's soul. But in place
of the voices came old sights of home again, the waving trees at Aranhal;
then it would be Rachel for a moment, declaiming tragedy while a houseful
of faces that he knew by name watched her; and through all the panorama
rang the pleasant laugh of Gaston. For a while in the evening the Padre
sat at his Erard playing Trovatore. Later, in his sleepless bed he lay,
saying now and then: "To die at home! Surely I may be granted at least
this." And he listened for the inner voices. But they were not speaking
any more, and the black hole of silence grew more dreadful to him than
|
