| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Odyssey by Homer: it were meet that we should each one wed.'
Then wise Telemachus answered him saying: 'Eurymachus, and
ye others, that are lordly wooers, I entreat you no more
concerning this nor speak thereof, for the gods have
knowledge of it now and all the Achaeans. But come, give me
a swift ship and twenty men, who shall accomplish for me my
voyage to and fro. For I will go to Sparta and to sandy
Pylos to inquire concerning the return of my father that is
long afar, if perchance any man shall tell me aught, or if
I may hear the voice from Zeus, that chiefly brings tidings
to men. If I shall hear news of the life and the returning
The Odyssey |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from To-morrow by Joseph Conrad: edly: "Aye, with the door shut. I wouldn't care
if . . . And you think he could be brought round
to recognise me . . . Eh? What? . . . You
could do it? In a week you say? H'm, I daresay
you could--but do you think I could hold out a
week in this dead-alive place? Not me! I want
either hard work, or an all-fired racket, or more
space than there is in the whole of England. I
have been in this place, though, once before, and for
more than a week. The old man was advertising
for me then, and a chum I had with me had a no-
To-morrow |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift: of people will be thereby much lessened in the kingdom. This I
freely own, and 'twas indeed one principal design in offering it
to the world. I desire the reader will observe, that I calculate
my remedy for this one individual Kingdom of Ireland, and for no
other that ever was, is, or, I think, ever can be upon Earth.
Therefore let no man talk to me of other expedients: Of taxing
our absentees at five shillings a pound: Of using neither
cloaths, nor houshold furniture, except what is of our own growth
and manufacture: Of utterly rejecting the materials and
instruments that promote foreign luxury: Of curing the
expensiveness of pride, vanity, idleness, and gaming in our
A Modest Proposal |
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 Unconscious Comedians by Honore de Balzac: a woman who makes twenty thousand francs a year by working a fantastic
idea."
"A fortune-teller," said Bixiou, interpreting the look of the
Southerner as a question. "Madame Fontaine is thought, by those who
seek to pry into the future, to be wiser in her wisdom than
Mademoiselle Lenormand."
"She must be very rich," remarked Gazonal.
"She was the victim of her own idea, as long as lotteries existed,"
said Bixiou; "for in Paris there are no great gains without
corresponding outlays. The strongest heads are liable to crack there,
as if to give vent to their steam. Those who make much money have
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