| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Salome by Oscar Wilde: IOKANAAN. Ange du Seigneur Dieu, que fais-tu ici avec ton glaive?
Qui cherches-tu dans cet immonde palais? . . . Le jour de celui qui
mourra en robe d'argent n'est pas venu
SALOME. Iokanaan.
IOKANAAN. Qui parle?
SALOME. Iokanaan! Je suis amoureuse de ton corps. Ton corps est
blanc comme le lis d'un pre que le faucheur n'a jamais fauche. Ton
corps est blanc comme les neiges qui couchent sur les montagnes,
comme les neiges qui couchent sur les montagnes de Judee, et
descendent dans les vallees. Les roses du jardin de la reine
d'Arabie ne sont pas aussi blanches que ton corps. Ni les roses du
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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 Hated Son by Honore de Balzac: passion that did not pass the bounds of modesty. Reliving in her
vision those delightful days when she seemed to have too much
happiness, she fancied that she kissed, in the void, that fine young
face with the glowing eyes, that rosy mouth that spoke so well of
love. Yes, she had loved Chaverny, poor apparently; but what treasures
had she not discovered in that soul as tender as it was strong!
Suddenly her father died. Chaverny did not succeed him. The flames of
civil war burst forth. By Chaverny's care she and her mother found
refuge in a little town of Lower Normandy. Soon the deaths of other
relatives made her one of the richest heiresses in France. Happiness
disappeared as wealth came to her. The savage and terrible face of
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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 The Professor by Charlotte Bronte: freshness; his features might have done well on canvas, but
indifferently in marble: they were plastic; character had set a
stamp upon each; expression re-cast them at her pleasure, and
strange metamorphoses she wrought, giving him now the mien of a
morose bull, and anon that of an arch and mischievous girl; more
frequently, the two semblances were blent, and a queer, composite
countenance they made.
Starting from his silent fit, he began:--
"William! what a fool you are to live in those dismal lodgings
of Mrs. King's, when you might take rooms here in Grove Street,
and have a garden like me!"
The Professor |
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 Vailima Prayers & Sabbath Morn by Robert Louis Stevenson: of the family took their usual places in one end of the large hall,
while the Samoans - men, women, and children - trooped in through
all the open doors, some carrying lanterns if the evening were
dark, all moving quietly and dropping with Samoan decorum in a wide
semicircle on the floor beneath a great lamp that hung from the
ceiling. The service began by my son reading a chapter from the
Samoan Bible, Tusitala following with a prayer in English,
sometimes impromptu, but more often from the notes in this little
book, interpolating or changing with the circumstance of the day.
Then came the singing of one or more hymns in the native tongue,
and the recitation in concert of the Lord's Prayer, also in Samoan.
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