| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Lover's Complaint by William Shakespeare: Of amber, crystal, and of beaded jet,
Which one by one she in a river threw,
Upon whose weeping margent she was set;
Like usury applying wet to wet,
Or monarchs' hands, that lets not bounty fall
Where want cries 'some,' but where excess begs all.
Of folded schedules had she many a one,
Which she perus'd, sigh'd, tore, and gave the flood;
Crack'd many a ring of posied gold and bone,
Bidding them find their sepulchres in mud;
Found yet mo letters sadly penn'd in blood,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from King James Bible: your murmurings.
EXO 16:10 And it came to pass, as Aaron spake unto the whole
congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the
wilderness, and, behold, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud.
EXO 16:11 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
EXO 16:12 I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel: speak
unto them, saying, At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye
shall be filled with bread; and ye shall know that I am the LORD your
God.
EXO 16:13 And it came to pass, that at even the quails came up, and
covered the camp: and in the morning the dew lay round about the host.
King James Bible |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Vendetta by Honore de Balzac: copying, and soon found many customers among the picture-dealers.
Luigi, on his side, sought long and actively for occupation, but it
was hard for a young officer whose talents had been restricted to the
study of strategy to find anything to do in Paris.
At last, weary of vain efforts, his soul filled with despair at seeing
the whole burden of their subsistence falling on Ginevra, it occurred
to him to make use of his handwriting, which was excellent. With a
persistency of which he saw an example in his wife, he went round
among the layers and notaries of Paris, asking for papers to copy. The
frankness of his manners and his situation interested many in his
favor; he soon obtained enough work to be obliged to find young men to
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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 Persuasion by Jane Austen: which lasted four days and nights, and which would have done for
poor old Asp in half the time; our touch with the Great Nation
not having much improved our condition. Four-and-twenty hours later,
and I should only have been a gallant Captain Wentworth,
in a small paragraph at one corner of the newspapers; and being lost
in only a sloop, nobody would have thought about me." Anne's shudderings
were to herself alone; but the Miss Musgroves could be as open
as they were sincere, in their exclamations of pity and horror.
"And so then, I suppose," said Mrs Musgrove, in a low voice,
as if thinking aloud, "so then he went away to the Laconia, and there
he met with our poor boy. Charles, my dear," (beckoning him to her),
Persuasion |
