| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from In the Cage by Henry James: convenience, at Cocker's, was obscure and barely adequate, and her
clear voice had the light note of disgust which her lover's never
showed as she responded with a "There?" of surprise to the gesture
made by the counter-clerk in answer to her sharp question. Our
young friend was busy with half a dozen people, but she had
dispatched them in her most businesslike manner by the time her
ladyship flung through the bars this light of re-appearance. Then
the directness with which the girl managed to receive the
accompanying missive was the result of the concentration that had
caused her to make the stamps fly during the few minutes occupied
by the production of it. This concentration, in turn, may be
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Bickerstaff-Partridge Papers by Jonathan Swift: accomplices to a certain astrological 'squire, and that one
Bickerstaff might be sauntring thereabouts; because I will assert
nothing here but what I dare attest, and plain matter of fact. My
wife at this fell into a violent disorder; and I must own I was a
little discomposed at the oddness of the accident. In the mean
time one knocks at my door, Betty runs down, and opening, finds a
sober grave person, who modestly enquires if this was Dr.
Partridge's? She taking him for some cautious city-patient, that
came at that time for privacy, shews him into the dining room. As
soon as I could compose myself, I went to him, and was surprized
to find my gentleman mounted on a table with a two-foot rule in
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Middlemarch by George Eliot: and other cold remnants, with an air of silent rejection, and polite
forbearance from signs of disgust.
"Should you like eggs, sir?"
"Eggs, no! Bring me a grilled bone."
"Really, Fred," said Rosamond, when the servant had left the room,
"if you must have hot things for breakfast, I wish you would come
down earlier. You can get up at six o'clock to go out hunting;
I cannot understand why you find it so difficult to get up on
other mornings."
"That is your want of understanding, Rosy. I can get up to go
hunting because I like it."
Middlemarch |
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 When a Man Marries by Mary Roberts Rinehart: course, after the scene in the dining room the night before. I
had stood like a naughty child, just inside the door, and replied
meekly when she said the pillows were overstuffed, and why didn't
I have the linen slips rinsed in starch water? She laid the blame
of her illness on me, as I have said before, and she made Jim
read to her in the afternoon from a book she carried with her,
Coals of Fire on the DOMESTIC Hearth, marking places for me to
read.
She sent for me that night, just as I had taken off my gown; so I
threw on a dressing gown and went in. To my horror, Jim was
already there. At a gesture from Aunt Selina, he closed the door
|
