| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Complete Poems of Longfellow by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Was he of his impending fate,
That, like the sword of Damocles,
Above his head hung blank and bare,
Suspended by a single hair,
So that he could not sit at ease,
But sighed and looked disconsolate,
And shifted restless in his chair,
Revolving how he might evade
The blow of the descending blade.
The Student came to his relief
By saying in his easy way
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Shadow out of Time by H. P. Lovecraft: in a stream of cryptic lore which, somehow, coming to my notice
during the amnesic period, had evoked vivid images in my subconscious
mind.
But how could I explain the exact and minute fashion in
which each line and spiral of these strange designs tallied with
what I had dreamed for more than a score of years? What obscure,
forgotten iconography could have reproduced each subtle shading
and nuance which so persistently, exactly, and unvaryingly besieged
my sleeping vision night after night?
For this was no chance
or remote resemblance. Definitely and absolutely, the millennially
Shadow out of Time |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton: were silent for a moment, as if dismayed by the unforeseen
trend of their words: then she said in a low voice:
"If that is it--is there some one else?"
"Some one else--between you and me?" He echoed
her words slowly, as though they were only half-
intelligible and he wanted time to repeat the question
to himself. She seemed to catch the uncertainty of his
voice, for she went on in a deepening tone: "Let us
talk frankly, Newland. Sometimes I've felt a difference
in you; especially since our engagement has been
announced."
|
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 On the Duty of Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau: to hang my hat, and how he managed matters there. The rooms
were whitewashed once a month; and this one, at least, was
the whitest, most simply furnished, and probably neatest
apartment in town. He naturally wanted to know where I came
from, and what brought me there; and, when I had told him, I
asked him in my turn how he came there, presuming him to be
an honest an, of course; and as the world goes, I believe he
was. "Why," said he, "they accuse me of burning a barn; but
I never did it." As near as I could discover, he had
probably gone to bed in a barn when drunk, and smoked his
pipe there; and so a barn was burnt. He had the reputation
On the Duty of Civil Disobedience |
