| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Professor by Charlotte Bronte: began:-
"Mademoiselle Henri has left your establishment--been dismissed,
I presume?"
"Ah, I wished to have a little conversation with you, monsieur,"
replied the directress with the most natural and affable air in
the world; "but we cannot talk quietly here; will Monsieur step
into the garden a minute?" And she preceded me, stepping out
through the glass-door I have before mentioned.
"There," said she, when we had reached the centre of the middle
alley, and when the foliage of shrubs and trees, now in their
summer pride, closing behind end around us, shut out the view of
The Professor |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Off on a Comet by Jules Verne: Another hypothesis that presented itself to his mind was that the African
coast might have been suddenly transported to the equatorial zone.
But although this might get over the difficulty of the altered altitude
of the sun and the absence of twilight, yet it would neither account
for the sun setting in the east, nor for the length of the day being
reduced to six hours.
"We must wait till to-morrow," he repeated; adding, for he had become
distrustful of the future, "that is to say, if to-morrow ever comes."
Although not very learned in astronomy, Servadac was acquainted
with the position of the principal constellations. It was
therefore a considerable disappointment to him that, in consequence
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Pagan and Christian Creeds by Edward Carpenter: barred or derailed from the main object of existence,
have turned their energies to 'business' or 'money-making'
or 'social advancement' or something equally futile,
as the only poor substitute and pis aller open to them.
[1] See Havelock Ellis, The Objects of Marriage, a pamphlet
published by the "British Society for the Study of
Sex-psychology."
Why (again we ask) did Christianity make this apparently
great mistake? And again we must reply: Perhaps the
mistake was not so great as it appears to be. Perhaps
this was another case of the necessity of learning by loss.
Pagan and Christian Creeds |
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 Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe: (Ah, let us mourn, for never morrow
Shall dawn upon him, desolate!)
And, round about his home, the glory
That blushed and bloomed
Is but a dim-remembered story,
Of the old time entombed.
VI.
And travellers now within that valley,
Through the red-litten windows, see
Vast forms that move fantastically
To a discordant melody;
The Fall of the House of Usher |
