| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Where There's A Will by Mary Roberts Rinehart: considerably milder.
"Just give it a twist or two, Minnie, won't you?" she said,
holding out the curler. "I haven't been able to sleep on the
back of my head for three weeks."
Well, I curled her hair for her and she told me about Miss
Summers being still shut in her room, and how she'd offered Mike
an extra dollar to give the white poodle a Turkish bath--it being
under the weather as to health--and how Mike had soaked the
little beast for an hour in a tub of water, forgetting the
sulphur, and it had come out a sort of mustard color, and how
Miss Summers had had hysterics when she saw it.
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Pagan and Christian Creeds by Edward Carpenter: practical utility see Hastings's Encycl. Religion and Ethics,
art. "The Sabbath."
It is true indeed that a taboo--in order to be a proper
taboo--must not rest in the general mind on argument or
reason. It may have had good sense in the past or even
an underlying good sense in the present, but its foundation
must rest on something beyond. It must be an absolute
fiat--something of the nature of a Mystery[1] or of Religion
or Magic-and not to be disputed. This gives it its blood-
curdling quality. The rustic does not know what would
happen to him if he garnered his corn on Sunday, nor does
Pagan and Christian Creeds |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Glasses by Henry James: marry a girl not absolutely one of themselves. He had given his
young friend unmistakable signs, but was lying low, gaining time:
it was in his father's power to be, both in personal and in
pecuniary ways, excessively nasty to him. His father wouldn't last
for ever--quite the contrary; and he knew how thoroughly, in spite
of her youth, her beauty and the swarm of her admirers, some of
them positively threatening in their passion, he could trust her to
hold out. There were richer, cleverer men, there were greater
personages too, but she liked her "little viscount" just as he was,
and liked to think that, bullied and persecuted, he had her there
so gratefully to rest upon. She came back to me with tale upon
|
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 Father Goriot by Honore de Balzac: not notice the change in the disposition of his fellow-lodgers,
nor know that he had met with a champion capable of putting an
end to the persecution.
"Then, M. Goriot sitting there is the father of a countess," said
Mme. Vauquer in a low voice.
"And of a baroness," answered Rastignac.
"That is about all he is capable of," said Bianchon to Rastignac;
"I have taken a look at his head; there is only one bump--the
bump of Paternity; he must be an ETERNAL FATHER."
Eugene was too intent on his thoughts to laugh at Bianchon's
joke. He determined to profit by Mme. de Beauseant's counsels,
Father Goriot |
