| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Tapestried Chamber by Walter Scott: was offered, seemed to fall into a fit of abstraction.
"You will take the gun to-day, General?" said his friend and
host, but had to repeat the question twice ere he received the
abrupt answer, "No, my lord; I am sorry I cannot have the
opportunity of spending another day with your lordship; my post
horses are ordered, and will be here directly."
All who were present showed surprise, and Lord Woodville
immediately replied "Post horses, my good friend! What can you
possibly want with them when you promised to stay with me quietly
for at least a week?"
"I believe," said the General, obviously much embarrassed, "that
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Second Home by Honore de Balzac: letter, a chapter on conjugal duties, might have been dictated by the
spirit of Fenelon, whose grace and tenderness pervaded every line.
"A wife is right to go wherever her husband may take her. Even if she
sins by his command, she will not be ultimately held answerable."
These two sentences of the Pope's homily only made Madame de Granville
and her director accuse him of irreligion.
But before this letter had arrived, Granville had discovered the
strict observance of fast days that his wife forced upon him, and gave
his servants orders to serve him with meat every day in the year.
However much annoyed his wife might be by these commands, Granville,
who cared not a straw for such indulgence or abstinence, persisted
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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 United States Constitution: Immediately after they shall be assembled in Consequence of the first Election,
they shall be divided as equally as may be into three Classes. The Seats of
the Senators of the first Class shall be vacated at the expiration of the
second Year, of the second Class at the expiration of the fourth Year,
and of the third Class at the expiration of the sixth Year, so that one third
may be chosen every second Year; and if vacancies happen by Resignation,
or otherwise, during the recess of the Legislature of any State,
the Executive thereof may make temporary Appointments until the
next meeting of the Legislature, which shall then fill such Vacancies.
No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of
thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United States,
The United States Constitution |
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 1984 by George Orwell: of paper which had evidently been slipped in among the others and then
forgotten. The instant he had flattened it out he saw its significance.
It was a half-page torn out of 'The Times' of about ten years earlier--the
top half of the page, so that it included the date--and it contained a
photograph of the delegates at some Party function in New York. Prominent
in the middle of the group were Jones, Aaronson, and Rutherford. There was
no mistaking them, in any case their names were in the caption at the
bottom.
The point was that at both trials all three men had confessed that on that
date they had been on Eurasian soil. They had flown from a secret airfield
in Canada to a rendezvous somewhere in Siberia, and had conferred with
1984 |
