| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from De Profundis by Oscar Wilde: rate a little of it. I see new developments in art and life, each
one of which is a fresh mode of perfection. I long to live so that
I can explore what is no less than a new world to me. Do you want
to know what this new world is? I think you can guess what it is.
It is the world in which I have been living. Sorrow, then, and all
that it teaches one, is my new world.
I used to live entirely for pleasure. I shunned suffering and
sorrow of every kind. I hated both. I resolved to ignore them as
far as possible: to treat them, that is to say, as modes of
imperfection. They were not part of my scheme of life. They had
no place in my philosophy. My mother, who knew life as a whole,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Reign of King Edward the Third by William Shakespeare: Make him acquainted with our enterprise,
And likewise will him, with our own allies
That are in Flanders, to solicit to
The Emperour of Almaigne in our name.
My self, whilst you are jointly thus employed,
Will, with these forces that I have at hand,
March, and once more repulse the traitorous Scot.
But, Sirs, be resolute: we shall have wars
On every side; and, Ned, thou must begin
Now to forget thy study and thy books,
And ure thy shoulders to an Armor's weight.
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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 Persuasion by Jane Austen: she had derived from it a delightful conviction; but she feared
from his looks, that the same unfortunate persuasion, which had
hastened him away from the Concert Room, still governed.
He did not seem to want to be near enough for conversation.
She tried to be calm, and leave things to take their course,
and tried to dwell much on this argument of rational dependence:--
"Surely, if there be constant attachment on each side, our hearts
must understand each other ere long. We are not boy and girl,
to be captiously irritable, misled by every moment's inadvertence,
and wantonly playing with our own happiness." And yet,
a few minutes afterwards, she felt as if their being in company
Persuasion |
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 Salammbo by Gustave Flaubert: violet shadows were lengthening before the peristyles of the temples,
and on the other side of the gulf the mountain bases, the fields of
olive-trees, and the vague yellow lands undulated indefinitely, and
were blended together in a bluish haze; not a sound was to be heard,
and an unspeakable depression weighed in the air.
Salammbo crouched down upon the onyx step on the edge of the basin;
she raised her ample sleeves, fastening them behind her shoulders, and
began her ablutions in methodical fashion, according to the sacred
rites.
Next Taanach brought her something liquid and coagulated in an
alabaster phial; it was the blood of a black dog slaughtered by barren
Salammbo |
