| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Tanach: Esther 1: 19 If it please the king, let there go forth a royal commandment from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes, that it be not altered, that Vashti come no more before king Ahasuerus, and that the king give her royal estate unto another that is better than she.
Esther 1: 20 And when the king's decree which he shall make shall be published throughout all his kingdom, great though it be, all the wives will give to their husbands honour, both to great and small.'
Esther 1: 21 And the word pleased the king and the princes; and the king did according to the word of Memucan;
Esther 1: 22 for he sent letters into all the king's provinces, into every province according to the writing thereof, and to every people after their language, that every man should bear rule in his own house, and speak according to the language of his people.
Esther 2: 1 After these things, when the wrath of king Ahasuerus was assuaged, he remembered Vashti, and what she had done, and what was decreed against her.
Esther 2: 2 Then said the king's servants that ministered unto him: 'Let there be sought for the king young virgins fair to look on;
Esther 2: 3 and let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather together all the fair young virgins unto Shushan the castle, to the house of the women, unto the custody of Hegai the king's chamberlain, keeper of the women; and let their ointments be given them;
The Tanach |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Gods of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: He did not renew the attack upon me, nor did he speak.
Instead, he walked toward the bench, and, sinking down upon it,
remained lost in deep thought for hours.
A long time afterward I heard a soft sound at the doorway
leading to one of the other apartments, and, looking up,
beheld the red Martian youth gazing intently at us.
"Kaor," I cried, after the red Martian manner of greeting.
"Kaor," he replied. "What do you here?"
"I await my death, I presume," I replied with a wry smile.
He too smiled, a brave and winning smile.
"I also," he said. "Mine will come soon. I looked upon
The Gods of Mars |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Early Short Fiction of Edith Wharton by Edith Wharton: Yes, this time his words would certainly carry conviction. . .
V
Despairingly, Granice gazed up and down the shabby street.
Beside him stood a young man with bright prominent eyes, a smooth
but not too smoothly-shaven face, and an Irish smile. The young
man's nimble glance followed Granice's.
"Sure of the number, are you?" he asked briskly.
"Oh, yes--it was 104."
"Well, then, the new building has swallowed it up--that's
certain."
He tilted his head back and surveyed the half-finished front of a
|
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 Egmont by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe: thee from my brother's medicine chest! From this anxious fear, this
dizziness, this death-agony, thou shalt deliver me at once.
ACT II
SCENE I.--Square in Brussels
Jetter and a Master Carpenter (meeting)
Carpenter. Did I not tell you beforehand? Eight days ago, at the guild, I
said there would be serious disturbances?
Jetter. Is it, then, true that they have plundered the churches in Flanders?
Carpenter. They have utterly destroyed both churches and chapels. They
have left nothing standing but the four bare walls. The lowest rabble! And
this it is that damages our good cause. We ought rather to have laid our
Egmont |
