| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Frankenstein by Mary Shelley: contented and even cheerful countenance, agreed with my father
that if my cousin would consent, the ceremony should take place
in ten days, and thus put, as I imagined, the seal to my fate.
Great God! If for one instant I had thought what might be the
hellish intention of my fiendish adversary, I would rather have
banished myself forever from my native country and wandered a
friendless outcast over the earth than have consented to this
miserable marriage. But, as if possessed of magic powers,
the monster had blinded me to his real intentions; and when I
thought that I had prepared only my own death, I hastened that
of a far dearer victim.
Frankenstein |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from On Horsemanship by Xenophon: penthos lagkhano polou diken, k.t.l.} (cf. Plut. "Mor." 754 A).
Washing of the legs we are inclined to dispense with--no good is done
but rather harm to the hoofs by this daily washing. So, too, excessive
cleanliness of the belly is to be discouraged; the operation itself is
most annoying to the horse; and the cleaner these parts are made, the
thicker the swarm of troublesome things which collect beneath the
belly. Besides which, however elaborately you clean these parts, the
horse is no sooner led out than presently he will be just as dirty as
if he had not been cleaned. Omit these ablutions then, we say; and
similarly for the legs, rubbing and currying by hand is quite
sufficient.
On Horsemanship |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Tono Bungay by H. G. Wells: twisted in a thousand ways."
"But you want her? You want her now--when you think of her?"
"Yes," I reflected. "I want her--right enough."
"And me? Where do I come in?"
"I suppose you come in here."
"Well, but what are you going to do?"
"Do!" I said with the exasperation of the situation growing upon
me. "What do you want me to do?"
As I look back upon all that time--across a gulf of fifteen
active years--I find I see it with an understanding judgment. I
see it as if it were the business of some one else--indeed of two
|
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 Madame Firmiani by Honore de Balzac: gives. The Attaches declared there was nothing of which she was
ignorant; the Contradictors asserted that there was much she ought to
learn; the Observers remarked that her hands were white, her feet
small, her movements a trifle too undulating. But, nevertheless,
individuals of all species envied or disputed Octave's happiness,
agreeing, for once in a way, that Madame Firmiani was the most
aristocratically beautiful woman in Paris.
Still young, rich, a perfect musician, intelligent, witty, refined,
and received (as a Cadignan) by the Princesse de Blamont-Chauvry, that
oracle of the noble faubourg, loved by her rivals the Duchesse de
Maufrigneuse her cousin, the Marquise d'Espard, and Madame de Macumer,
|
