| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde: LORD GORING. But women who have common sense are so curiously plain,
father, aren't they? Of course I only speak from hearsay.
LORD CAVERSHAM. No woman, plain or pretty, has any common sense at
all, sir. Common sense is the privilege of our sex.
LORD GORING. Quite so. And we men are so self-sacrificing that we
never use it, do we, father?
LORD CAVERSHAM. I use it, sir. I use nothing else.
LORD GORING. So my mother tells me.
LORD CAVERSHAM. It is the secret of your mother's happiness. You
are very heartless, sir, very heartless.
LORD GORING. I hope not, father.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass: and were drowned. Now, we were hunted by dogs, and overtaken and
torn to pieces by their merciless fangs. We were stung by
scorpions--chased by wild beasts--bitten by snakes; and, worst of
all, after having succeeded in swimming rivers--encountering wild
beasts--sleeping in the woods--suffering hunger, cold, heat and
nakedness--we supposed ourselves to be overtaken by hired
kidnappers, who, in the name of the law, and for their thrice
accursed reward, would, perchance, fire upon us--kill some, wound
others, and capture all. This dark pic<219 IMAGINARY
DIFFICULTIES>ture, drawn by ignorance and fear, at times greatly
shook our determination, and not unfrequently caused us to
My Bondage and My Freedom |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte: relief in poetry - and often find it, too - whether in the
effusions of others, which seem to harmonize with our existing
case, or in our own attempts to give utterance to those thoughts
and feelings in strains less musical, perchance, but more
appropriate, and therefore more penetrating and sympathetic, and,
for the time, more soothing, or more powerful to rouse and to
unburden the oppressed and swollen heart. Before this time, at
Wellwood House and here, when suffering from home-sick melancholy,
I had sought relief twice or thrice at this secret source of
consolation; and now I flew to it again, with greater avidity than
ever, because I seemed to need it more. I still preserve those
Agnes Grey |
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 Roads of Destiny by O. Henry: The San Antonio /Express/ of the following morning contained this
sensational piece of news:
BENTON SHARP MEETS HIS MATCH
The Most Noted Desperado in Southwest Texas Shot to Death in the
Gold Front Restaurant--Prominent State Official Successfully
Defends Himself Against the Noted Bully--Magnificent Exhibition of
Quick Gun Play.
Last night about eleven o'clock Benton Sharp, with two other men,
entered the Gold Front Restaurant and seated themselves at a
table. Sharp had been drinking, and was loud and boisterous, as he
always was when under the influence of liquor. Five minutes after
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