| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Sentimental Journey by Laurence Sterne: manage his point as he could; - and, for mine, I walked directly
into the house.
The family consisted of an old grey-headed man and his wife, with
five or six sons and sons-in-law, and their several wives, and a
joyous genealogy out of them.
They were all sitting down together to their lentil-soup; a large
wheaten loaf was in the middle of the table; and a flagon of wine
at each end of it promised joy through the stages of the repast: -
'twas a feast of love.
The old man rose up to meet me, and with a respectful cordiality
would have me sit down at the table; my heart was set down the
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Republic by Plato: answer for him.)
I answer that he knows something.
Something that is or is not?
Something that is; for how can that which is not ever be known?
And are we assured, after looking at the matter from many points of view,
that absolute being is or may be absolutely known, but that the utterly
non-existent is utterly unknown?
Nothing can be more certain.
Good. But if there be anything which is of such a nature as to be and not
to be, that will have a place intermediate between pure being and the
absolute negation of being?
The Republic |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Man in Lower Ten by Mary Roberts Rinehart: and that she had put a blanket on my bed, but, to her disappointment,
I refused to reopen the subject.
At half past eleven McKnight and Hotchkiss came in. Richey has a
habit of stopping his car in front of the house and honking until
some one comes out. He has a code of signals with the horn, which
I never remember. Two long and a short blast mean, I believe, "Send
out a box of cigarettes," and six short blasts, which sound like a
police call, mean "Can you lend me some money?" To-night I knew
something was up, for he got out and rang the door-bell like a
Christian.
They came into the library, and Hotchkiss wiped his collar until
The Man in Lower Ten |
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 The Ball at Sceaux by Honore de Balzac: will forgive me, I trust, mademoiselle," he added, turning to Emilie.
"You will kindly excuse the tyranny of business matters."
"Indeed, monsieur, it seems to me that it is no concern of mine,"
replied Mademoiselle de Fontaine, looking at him with a bold
expression of sarcastic indifference which might have made any one
believe that she now saw him for the first time.
"Do you really mean it?" asked Maximilien in a broken voice.
Emilie turned her back upon him with amazing insolence. These words,
spoken in an undertone, had escaped the ears of her two sisters-in-
law. When, after buying the cape, the three ladies got into the
carriage again, Emilie, seated with her back to the horses, could not
|
