| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Pair of Blue Eyes by Thomas Hardy: 'I don't do that. But I think he is right in some of his
arguments, though wrong in others. And because he has some claim
to my respect I regret all the more that he should think so
mistakenly of my motives in one or two instances. It is more
vexing to be misunderstood than to be misrepresented; and he
misunderstands me. I cannot be easy whilst a person goes to rest
night after night attributing to me intentions I never had.'
'He doesn't know your name, or anything about you. And he has
doubtless forgotten there is such a book in existence by this
time.'
'I myself should certainly like him to be put right upon one or
A Pair of Blue Eyes |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from House of Mirth by Edith Wharton: circle in which life reached its finest efflorescence, as the mud
and sleet of a winter night enclose a hot-house filled with
tropical flowers. All this was in the natural order of things,
and the orchid basking in its artificially created atmosphere
could round the delicate curves of its petals undisturbed by the
ice on the panes.
But it is one thing to live comfortably with the abstract
conception of poverty, another to be brought in contact with its
human embodiments. Lily had never conceived of these victims of
fate otherwise than in the mass. That the mass was composed of
individual lives, innumerable separate centres of sensation, with
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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 King James Bible: shall sow the land.
GEN 47:24 And it shall come to pass in the increase, that ye shall give
the fifth part unto Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own, for seed
of the field, and for your food, and for them of your households, and
for food for your little ones.
GEN 47:25 And they said, Thou hast saved our lives: let us find grace
in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants.
GEN 47:26 And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt unto this
day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth part, except the land of the
priests only, which became not Pharaoh's.
GEN 47:27 And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of
King James Bible |
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 Catriona by Robert Louis Stevenson: he shall have nay." But this was the end of her rigours, and
presently, after making some excuse of which I have no mind, she
carried me away in private to her father's library. I should not fail
to say she was dressed to the nines, and appeared extraordinary
handsome.
"Now, Mr. David, sit ye down here and let us have a two-handed crack,"
said she. "For I have much to tell you, and it appears besides that I
have been grossly unjust to your good taste."
"In what manner, Mistress Grant?" I asked. "I trust I have never
seemed to fail in due respect."
"I will be your surety, Mr, David," said she. "Your respect, whether
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