| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Domestic Peace by Honore de Balzac: girl betraying the incitement of a first temptation.
Martial, troubled by the Countess' involuntary but intoxicating touch,
like a caress, as she drew off the ring, looked at her with eyes as
glittering as the gem.
"Wear it," he said, "in memory of this hour, and for the love of----"
She was looking at him with such rapture that he did not end the
sentence; he kissed her hand.
"You give it me?" she said, looking much astonished.
"I wish I had the whole world to offer you!"
"You are not joking?" she went on, in a voice husky with too great
satisfaction.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Across The Plains by Robert Louis Stevenson: a bolder push for complexity, and settle their affairs by a coin
that no longer that no longer exists - the BIT, or old Mexican
real. The supposed value of the bit is twelve and a half cents,
eight to the dollar. When it comes to two bits, the quarter-dollar
stands for the required amount. But how about an odd bit? The
nearest coin to it is a dime, which is, short by a fifth. That,
then, is called a SHORT bit. If you have one, you lay it
triumphantly down, and save two and a half cents. But if you have
not, and lay down a quarter, the bar-keeper or shopman calmly
tenders you a dime by way of change; and thus you have paid what is
called a LONG BIT, and lost two and a half cents, or even, by
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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 Sons and Lovers by D. H. Lawrence: "How much? Pf!" He snapped his fingers. "Can I turn them
into gold?"
"I'm afraid not," she laughed.
They looked into each other's eyes, laughing. At that moment
they became aware of Miriam. There was a click, and everything
had altered.
"Hello, Miriam!" he exclaimed. "You said you'd come!"
"Yes. Had you forgotten?"
She shook hands with Clara, saying:
"It seems strange to see you here."
"Yes," replied the other; "it seems strange to be here."
Sons and Lovers |
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 The Unseen World and Other Essays by John Fiske: being at the bottom of it." The peasants were not slow to follow
suit, and those who were robbed of their winter's store had no
alternative left but to become robbers themselves. The thieveries
of the Fakeers, or religious mendicants, and the bold, though
stealthy attacks of Thugs and Dacoits--members of Masonic
brotherhoods, which at all times have lived by robbery and
assassination--added to the general turmoil. In the cold weather
of 1772 the province was ravaged far and wide by bands of armed
freebooters, fifty thousand strong; and to such a pass did things
arrive that the regular forces sent by Warren Hastings to
preserve order were twice disastrously routed; while, in Mr.
The Unseen World and Other Essays |
