| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Flame and Shadow by Sara Teasdale: I felt your love blow over me
As if a dark wind-riven sea
Drenched me with quivering spray.
There are so many ways to love
And each way has its own delight --
Then be content to come to me
Only as spray the beating sea
Drives inland through the night.
If Death Is Kind
Perhaps if Death is kind, and there can be returning,
We will come back to earth some fragrant night,
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie: "Are you sure I can get all the things I want there?"
"That extremely unwholesome menu you were outlining just now? Of
course you can--or as much as is good for you, anyway."
"And now tell me," said Tommy, unable to restrain his pent-up
curiosity any longer, as they sat in state surrounded by the many
hors d'oeuvre of Tuppence's dreams.
Miss Cowley told him.
"And the curious part of it is," she ended, "that I really did
invent the name of Jane Finn! I didn't want to give my own
because of poor father--in case I should get mixed up in anything
shady."
Secret Adversary |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Voice of the City by O. Henry: is to shake bands with a spaghetti chef or to receive
a nod from a Broadway head-waiter.
At last the company thinned, leaving' but a few
couples and quartettes lingering over new wine and
old stories. And then came Mr. Brunelli to Katy's
secluded table, and drew a chair close to hers.
Katy smiled at him dreamily. She was eating the
last spoonful of a raspberry roll with Burgundy
sauce.
"You have seen!" said Mr. Brunelli, laying one
hand upon his collar bone. "I am Antonio Brunelli!
The Voice of the City |
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 Droll Stories, V. 1 by Honore de Balzac: of manner are there in this business; and although all amours resemble
each other in the same manner that all men resemble each other, it is
proved to the abstractors of true things, that for the happiness of
women, each love has its especial physiognomy, and if there is nothing
that resembles a man so much as a man, there is also nothing differs
from a man so much as a man. That it is, which confuses all things, or
explains the thousand fancies of women, who seek the best men with a
thousand pains and a thousand pleasures, perhaps more the one than the
other. But how can I blame them for their essays, changes, and
contradictory aims? Why, Nature frisks and wriggles, twists and turns
about, and you expect a woman to remain still! Do you know if ice is
Droll Stories, V. 1 |
