| 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: along with me, and let me make you immortal, no matter how
anxious you may be to see this wife of yours, of whom you are
thinking all the time day after day; yet I flatter myself that I
am no whit less tall or well-looking than she is, for it is not
to be expected that a mortal woman should compare in beauty with
an immortal."
"Goddess," replied Ulysses, "do not be angry with me about this.
I am quite aware that my wife Penelope is nothing like so tall
or so beautiful as yourself. She is only a woman, whereas you
are an immortal. Nevertheless, I want to get home, and can think
of nothing else. If some god wrecks me when I am on the sea, I
The Odyssey |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Malbone: An Oldport Romance by Thomas Wentworth Higginson: "Hope's pet," said Kate, "and she who pets Hope, Lady Antwerp."
"Is it possible?" said Malbone. "That young creature? I
fancied her ladyship in spectacles, with little side curls. Men
speak of her with such dismay."
"Of course," said Kate, "she asks them sensible questions."
"That is bad," admitted Philip. "Nothing exasperates
fashionable Americans like a really intelligent foreigner. They
feel as Sydney Smith says the English clergy felt about
Elizabeth Fry; she disturbs their repose, and gives rise to
distressing comparisons,--they long to burn her alive. It is
not their notion of a countess."
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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 Gobseck by Honore de Balzac: to live for a hundred years, I should never forget the sight of his
face at that moment. There was a flush in his pale cheeks; his eyes
seemed to have caught the sparkle of the stones, for there was an
unnatural glitter in them. He rose and went to the light, holding the
diamonds close to his toothless mouth, as if he meant to devour them;
mumbling vague words over them, holding up bracelets, sprays,
necklaces, and tiaras one after another, to judge their water,
whiteness, and cutting; taking them out of the jewel-case and putting
them in again, letting the play of the light bring out all their
fires. He was more like a child than an old man; or, rather, childhood
and dotage seemed to meet in him.
Gobseck |
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 Plain Tales from the Hills by Rudyard Kipling: about it.
A certain amount of "screw" is as necessary for a man as for a
billiard-ball. It makes them both do wonderful things. Dicky
needed money badly, and he worked for it like a horse. But,
naturally, the men who owned him knew that a boy can live very
comfortably on a certain income--pay in India is a matter of age,
not merit, you see, and if their particular boy wished to work like
two boys, Business forbid that they should stop him! But Business
forbid that they should give him an increase of pay at his present
ridiculously immature age! So Dicky won certain rises of salary--
ample for a boy--not enough for a wife and child--certainly too
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