| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Tattine by Ruth Ogden [Mrs. Charles W. Ide]: boiling, and the children were rather impatient for that stage to be reached.
At last, however, Rudolph announced excitedly, "It boils, it boils! and now I
mustn't leave it for a minute. More wood, Mabel! don't be so slow, and,
Tattine, hurry Philip up with that ice," but Philip was seen at that moment
bringing a large piece of ice in a wheelbarrow, so Tattine was saved that
journey, and devoted the time instead to spreading out one of the pieces of
wrapping-paper, to keep the ice from the ground, because of the dead leaves
and "things" that were likely to cling to it.
"Now break off a good-sized piece, Tattine," Rudolph directed, "and put it on
a piece of paper near the fire," but Tattine knew that was the next thing to
do, so what was the use of Rudolph's telling her? It happens quite frequently
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Phoenix and the Turtle by William Shakespeare: Phoenix and the turtle fled
In a mutual flame from hence.
So they lov'd, as love in twain
Had the essence but in one;
Two distincts, division none:
Number there in love was slain.
Hearts remote, yet not asunder;
Distance, and no space was seen
'Twixt the turtle and his queen;
But in them it were a wonder.
So between them love did shine,
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Fanny Herself by Edna Ferber: twenty-five dollars in Denver. It stood in one corner of
his cabin, and its base was a tree stump just five hundred
years old, as you could tell for yourself by counting its
rings. His cabin walls were gorgeous with pictures of
Maxine Elliott in her palmy days, and blonde and
sophisticated little girls on vinegar calendars, posing
bare-legged and self-conscious in blue calico and
sunbonnets. You sat in the warm yellow glow of Oscar's lamp
and were regaled with everything from the Swedish National
Anthem to Mischa Elman's tenderest crooning. And Oscar sat
rapt, his weather-beaten face a rich deep mahogany, his eyes
Fanny Herself |
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 Bureaucracy by Honore de Balzac: journal.
Desroys, the mysterious clerk of the division, consorted with no one,
talked little, and hid his private life so carefully that no one knew
where he lived, nor who were his protectors, nor what were his means
of subsistence. Looking about them for the causes of this reserve,
some of his colleagues thought him a "carbonaro," others an Orleanist;
there were others again who doubted whether to call him a spy or a man
of solid merit. Desroys was, however, simple and solely the son of a
"Conventionel," who did not vote the king's death. Cold and prudent by
temperament, he had judged the world and ended by relying on no one
but himself. Republican in secret, an admirer of Paul-Louis Courier
|
