| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Marie by H. Rider Haggard: "Why! here is our little Englishman come to shoot off his match like a
man of his word. Friend Marais, stop talking about your losses"--this
in a warning voice--"and give him good day."
So Marais came, and with him Marie, who blushed and smiled, but to my
mind looked more of a grown woman than ever before; one who had left
girlhood behind her and found herself face to face with real life and
all its troubles. Following her close, very close, as I was quick to
notice, was Hernan Pereira. He was even more finely dressed than usual
and carried in his hand a beautiful new, single-barrelled rifle, also
fitted to take percussion caps, but, as I thought, of a very large bore
for the purpose of goose shooting.
Marie |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin: ground is concealed by a mass of slowly putrefying vegetable
matter, which, from being soaked with water, yields to the
foot.
Finding it nearly hopeless to push my way through the
wood, I followed the course of a mountain torrent. At first,
from the waterfalls and number of dead trees, I could hardly
crawl along; but the bed of the stream soon became a little
more open, from the floods having swept the sides. I continued
slowly to advance for an hour along the broken and
rocky banks, and was amply repaid by the grandeur of the
scene. The gloomy depth of the ravine well accorded with
The Voyage of the Beagle |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Princess by Alfred Tennyson: Rested: but great the crush was, and each base,
To left and right, of those tall columns drowned
In silken fluctuation and the swarm
Of female whisperers: at the further end
Was Ida by the throne, the two great cats
Close by her, like supporters on a shield,
Bow-backed with fear: but in the centre stood
The common men with rolling eyes; amazed
They glared upon the women, and aghast
The women stared at these, all silent, save
When armour clashed or jingled, while the day,
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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 Timaeus by Plato: earth, and next the sun, in the second orbit above the earth; then came the
morning star and the star sacred to Hermes, moving in orbits which have an
equal swiftness with the sun, but in an opposite direction; and this is the
reason why the sun and Hermes and Lucifer overtake and are overtaken by
each other. To enumerate the places which he assigned to the other stars,
and to give all the reasons why he assigned them, although a secondary
matter, would give more trouble than the primary. These things at some
future time, when we are at leisure, may have the consideration which they
deserve, but not at present.
Now, when all the stars which were necessary to the creation of time had
attained a motion suitable to them, and had become living creatures having
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