| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Shadow Line by Joseph Conrad: hadn't been for my shrinking apprehension of the
thunder. In the tension of silence I was suffering
from it seemed to me that the first crash must turn
me into dust.
And thunder was, most likely, what would hap-
pen next. Stiff all over and hardly breathing,
I waited with a horribly strained expectation.
Nothing happened. It was maddening, but a dull,
growing ache in the lower part of my face made me
aware that I had been grinding my teeth madly
enough, for God knows how long.
The Shadow Line |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Buttered Side Down by Edna Ferber: downtown loft.
Sophy sold "sample" shoes at two-fifty a pair, and from where
you were standing you thought they looked just like the shoes that
were sold in the regular shops for six. When Sophy sat on one of
the low benches at the feet of some customer, tugging away at a
refractory shoe for a would-be small foot, her shameless little
gown exposed more than it should have. But few of Sophy's
customers were shocked. They were mainly chorus girls and ladies
of doubtful complexion in search of cheap and ultra footgear,
and--to use a health term--hardened by exposure.
Have I told you how pretty she was? She was so pretty that
Buttered Side Down |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Another Study of Woman by Honore de Balzac: "The tone of this second call was even more brutally questioning than
the first. The Colonel's strong burr, and the length which the Italian
language allows to be given to vowels and the final syllable,
concentrated all the man's despotism, impatience, and strength of
will. Rosina turned pale, but she rose, passed behind us, and went to
the Colonel.
"All the party sat in utter silence; I, unluckily, after looking at
them all, began to laugh, and then they all laughed too.--'/Tu ridi?/
--you laugh?' said the husband.
" 'On my honor, old comrade,' said I, becoming serious again, 'I
confess that I was wrong; I ask your pardon a thousand times, and if
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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 Heroes by Charles Kingsley: And they asked, 'How shall we set your spirit free?'
'You must sail over the sea to Colchis, and bring home the
golden fleece; and then my spirit will come back with it, and
I shall sleep with my fathers and have rest.'
He came thus, and called to them often; but when they woke
they looked at each other, and said, 'Who dare sail to
Colchis, or bring home the golden fleece?' And in all the
country none was brave enough to try it; for the man and the
time were not come.
Phrixus had a cousin called AEson, who was king in Iolcos by
the sea. There he ruled over the rich Minuan heroes, as
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