| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne: poor minister had died, and likewise the cottage by the sea-shore
where Hester Prynne had dwelt. Near this latter spot, one
afternoon some children were at play, when they beheld a tall
woman in a gray robe approach the cottage-door. In all those
years it had never once been opened; but either she unlocked it
or the decaying wood and iron yielded to her hand, or she glided
shadow-like through these impediments -- and, at all events, went
in.
On the threshold she paused -- turned partly round -- for
perchance the idea of entering alone and all so changed, the home
The Scarlet Letter |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum: Scarecrows. Why not use the money?"
The Tin Woodman began to turn over the rubbish with the handle of his axe;
and, sure enough, what they had first thought only worthless papers were
found to be all bills of various denominations,
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which the mischievous Jackdaws had for years been engaged in stealing from
the villages and cities they visited.
There was an immense fortune lying in that inaccessible nest; and Tip's
suggestion was, with the Scarecrow's consent, quickly acted upon.
They selected all the newest and cleanest bills and assorted them into
various piles. The Scarecrow's left leg and boot were stuffed with five-
The Marvelous Land of Oz |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Lady Susan by Jane Austen: his purchasing Vernon? My having prevented it may perhaps have given his
wife an unfavourable impression, but where there is a disposition to
dislike, a motive will never be wanting; and as to money matters it has not
withheld him from being very useful to me. I really have a regard for him,
he is so easily imposed upon! The house is a good one, the furniture
fashionable, and everything announces plenty and elegance. Charles is very
rich I am sure; when a man has once got his name in a banking-house he
rolls in money; but they do not know what to do with it, keep very little
company, and never go to London but on business. We shall be as stupid as
possible. I mean to win my sister-in-law's heart through the children; I
know all their names already, and am going to attach myself with the
Lady Susan |
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 Juana by Honore de Balzac: designation of Stuart is to the celebrated royal race of Scotland, a
name of distinction substituted for the patronymic name by the
constant heredity of the same office devolving on the family.
Formerly, in France, Spain, and Italy, when those three countries had,
in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, mutual interests which
united and disunited them by perpetual warfare, the name Marana served
to express in its general sense, a prostitute. In those days women of
that sort had a certain rank in the world of which nothing in our day
can give an idea. Ninon de l'Enclos and Marian Delorme have alone
played, in France, the role of the Imperias, Catalinas, and Maranas
who, in preceding centuries, gathered around them the cassock, gown,
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