| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Voyage to Abyssinia by Father Lobo: had already suffered did not prevent our continuing our march all
night: at last we entered a plain, where our drivers told us we
might expect to be attacked by the Galles; nor was it long before
our own eyes convinced us that we were in great danger, for we saw
as we went along the dead bodies of a caravan who had been lately
massacred, a sight which froze our blood, and filled us with pity
and with horror. The same fate was not far from overtaking us, for
a troop of Galles, who were detached in search of us, missed us but
an hour or two. We spent the next night in the mountains, but when
we should have set out in the morning, were obliged to a fierce
dispute with the old Moor, who had not yet lost his inclination to
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Second Home by Honore de Balzac: the siege of the Bastille. He was recognized by some of the
assailants, who asked him whether he could not lead a real attack,
since he was used to leading such enterprises on the boards. My father
was brave; he accepted the post, led the insurgents, and was rewarded
by the nomination to the rank of captain in the army of Sambre-et-
Meuse, where he distinguished himself so far as to rise rapidly to be
a colonel. But at Lutzen he was so badly wounded that, after a year's
sufferings, he died in Paris.--The Bourbons returned; my mother could
obtain no pension, and we fell into such abject misery that we were
compelled to work for our living. For some time past she has been
ailing, poor dear, and I have never known her so little resigned; she
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Firm of Nucingen by Honore de Balzac: national thought. Blondet is driving a hearse to his own suicide;
Blondet, forsooth! who manufactures newspaper accounts of the last
words of all the great men that die without saying anything!"
"Come, get on," put in Finot.
"It was my intention to explain to you in what the happiness of a man
consists when he is not a shareholder (out of compliment to Couture).
Well, now, do you not see at what a price Godefroid secured the
greatest happiness of a young man's dreams? He was trying to
understand Isaure, by way of making sure that she should understand
him. Things which comprehend one another must needs be similar.
Infinity and Nothingness, for instance, are like; everything that lies
|
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 Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce: He raised his eyes and with a look so stern
It made me with a thousand blushes burn
Replied -- his manner with disdain was spiced:
"What! I a Christian? No, indeed! I'm Christ."
G.J.
CIRCUS, n. A place where horses, ponies and elephants are permitted
to see men, women and children acting the fool.
CLAIRVOYANT, n. A person, commonly a woman, who has the power of
seeing that which is invisible to her patron, namely, that he is a
blockhead.
CLARIONET, n. An instrument of torture operated by a person with
The Devil's Dictionary |
