| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Passionate Pilgrim by William Shakespeare: And then she clipp'd Adonis in her arms;
'Even thus,' quoth she, 'the warlike god unlaced me,'
As if the boy should use like loving charms;
'Even thus,' quoth she, 'he seized on my lips
And with her lips on his did act the seizure
And as she fetched breath, away he skips,
And would not take her meaning nor her pleasure.
Ah, that I had my lady at this bay,
To kiss and clip me till I run away!
XII.
Crabbed age and youth cannot live together
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia by Samuel Johnson: to see men, we must see their works, that we may learn what reason
has dictated or passion has excited, and find what are the most
powerful motives of action. To judge rightly of the present, we
must oppose it to the past; for all judgment is comparative, and of
the future nothing can be known. The truth is that no mind is much
employed upon the present; recollection and anticipation fill up
almost all our moments. Our passions are joy and grief, love and
hatred, hope and fear. Of joy and grief, the past is the object,
and the future of hope and fear; even love and hatred respect the
past, for the cause must have been before the effect.
"The present state of things is the consequence of the former; and
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Aesop's Fables by Aesop: their fill; if you drive these away, others will come with fresh
appetite and bleed me to death."
The Fox Without a Tail
It happened that a Fox caught its tail in a trap, and in
struggling to release himself lost all of it but the stump. At
first he was ashamed to show himself among his fellow foxes. But
at last he determined to put a bolder face upon his misfortune,
and summoned all the foxes to a general meeting to consider a
proposal which he had to place before them. When they had
assembled together the Fox proposed that they should all do away
with their tails. He pointed out how inconvenient a tail was when
Aesop's Fables |
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 Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte: retract her word, and you'll have an opportunity of judging!'
'I'll not retract my word,' said Catherine. 'I'll marry him within
this hour, if I may go to Thrushcross Grange afterwards. Mr.
Heathcliff, you're a cruel man, but you're not a fiend; and you
won't, from MERE malice, destroy irrevocably all my happiness. If
papa thought I had left him on purpose, and if he died before I
returned, could I bear to live? I've given over crying: but I'm
going to kneel here, at your knee; and I'll not get up, and I'll
not take my eyes from your face till you look back at me! No,
don't turn away! DO LOOK! you'll see nothing to provoke you. I
don't hate you. I'm not angry that you struck me. Have you never
Wuthering Heights |
