| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Atheist's Mass by Honore de Balzac: seeking an object; he had never been loved but by a poodle that
had died some time since, of which he would talk to me, asking
whether I thought the Church would allow masses to be said for
the repose of its soul. His dog, said he, had been a good
Christian, who for twelve years had accompanied him to church,
never barking, listening to the organ without opening his mouth,
and crouching beside him in a way that made it seem as though he
were praying too.
"This man centered all his affections in me; he looked upon me as
a forlorn and suffering creature, and he became, to me, the most
thoughtful mother, the most considerate benefactor, the ideal of
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from On Horsemanship by Xenophon: approach of anything which, if once accepted, clearly means to them
enforced exertion.
[4] {koruphaia}, part of the {khalinos} gear.
Another point to ascertain is whether the horse, when mounted, can be
induced to leave other horses, or when being ridden past a group of
horses standing, will not bolt off to join the company. Some horses
again, as the result of bad training, will run away from the
exercising-ground and make for the stable. A hard mouth may be
detected by the exercise called the {pede} or volte,[5] and still more
so by varying the direction of the volte to right or left. Many horses
will not attempt to run away except for the concurrence of a bad mouth
On Horsemanship |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Muse of the Department by Honore de Balzac: payment of the allowance in advance.
Little La Baudraye, who came jauntily enough to say good-bye to his
wife and /his/ children, appeared in a white india-rubber overcoat. He
was so firm on his feet, and so exactly like the La Baudraye of 1836,
that Dinah despaired of ever burying the dreadful little dwarf. From
the garden, where he was smoking a cigar, the journalist could watch
Monsieur de la Baudraye for so long as it took the little reptile to
cross the forecourt, but that was enough for Lousteau; it was plain to
him that the little man had intended to wreck every hope of his dying
that his wife might have conceived.
This short scene made a considerable change in the writer's secret
The Muse of the Department |
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 Emma McChesney & Co. by Edna Ferber: worriedly, "Pages? P----" Suddenly she knew. Pages y
Hernandez, the owner of the great Buenos Aires shop--a shop finer
than those of Paris. And this was Pages! All the Featherloom
instinct in Emma McChesney came to the surface and stayed there,
seething.
That was the morning of the second day out. By afternoon, she
had bribed and maneuvered so that her deck chair was next that of
the Pages-family flock of chairs. Senor Pages reminded her of
one of those dashing, white-haired, distinguished-looking men
whose likeness graces the cover of a box of your favorite cigars.
General Something-or-other-ending-in-z he should have been, with
Emma McChesney & Co. |
