| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Some Reminiscences by Joseph Conrad: On the steps, groups of servants, a few relations, one or two
friends from the nearest neighbourhood, a perfect silence, on all
the faces an air of sober concentration; my grandmother all in
black gazing stoically, my uncle giving his arm to my mother down
to the carriage in which I had been placed already; at the top of
the flight my little cousin in a short skirt of a tartan pattern
with a deal of red in it, and like a small princess attended by
the women of her own household: the head gourvernante, our dear,
corpulent Francesca (who had been for thirty years in the service
of the B. family), the former nurse, now outdoor attendant, a
handsome peasant face wearing a compassionate expression, and the
Some Reminiscences |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Return of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs: glanced through the door connecting the dining room with the bar.
To his surprise, he saw Gernois standing there in
conversation with the very stranger he had seen in the coffee-
house at Bouira the day previous. He could not be mistaken,
for there was the same strangely familiar attitude and figure,
though the man's back was toward him.
As his eyes lingered on the two, Gernois looked up and
caught the intent expression on Tarzan's face. The stranger
was talking in a low whisper at the time, but the French
officer immediately interrupted him, and the two at once
turned away and passed out of the range of Tarzan's vision.
The Return of Tarzan |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Secret Places of the Heart by H. G. Wells: the down to the northward to get a general view of the
village, had tea and smoked round the walls again in the warm
April sunset. The matter of their conversation remained
prehistoric. Both were inclined to find fault with the
archaeological work that had been done on the place. "Clumsy
treasure hunting," Sir Richmond said. "They bore into Silbury
Hill and expect to find a mummified chief or something
sensational of that sort, and they don't, and they report
nothing. They haven't sifted finely enough; they haven't
thought subtly enough. These walls of earth ought to tell
what these people ate, what clothes they wore, what woods
|
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 Louis Lambert by Honore de Balzac: one else would have said, "We are not made on the same pattern." Every
clever man has his own quirks of speech. The broader his genius, the
more conspicuous are the singularities which constitute the various
degrees of eccentricity. In the country an eccentric man is at once
set down as half mad.
Hence Monsieur Lefebvre's first sentences left me doubtful of my
schoolmate's insanity. I listened to the old man, but I criticised his
statements.
The most serious symptom had supervened a day or two before the
marriage. Louis had had some well-marked attacks of catalepsy. He had
once remained motionless for fifty-nine hours, his eyes staring,
Louis Lambert |
