| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Exiles by Honore de Balzac: and tawny reflections, fringed Philippe Auguste's towers with fire,
flooded the sky, dyed the waters, gilded the plants, and aroused the
half-sleeping insects. The immense shaft of light set the clouds on
fire. It was like the last verse of the daily hymn. Every heart was
thrilled; nature in such a moment is sublime.
As he gazed at the spectacle, the stranger's eyes moistened with the
tenderest of human tears: Godefroid too was weeping; his trembling
hand touched that of the elder man, who, looking round, confessed his
emotion. But thinking his dignity as a man compromised, no doubt, to
redeem it, he said in a deep voice:
"I weep for my native land. I am an exile! Young man, in such an hour
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Grimm's Fairy Tales by Brothers Grimm: promised that he who would venture should have his daughter to wife,
and she was the most beautiful maiden the sun shone on. Likewise in
the castle lay great treasures, which were guarded by evil spirits,
and these treasures would then be freed, and would make a poor man
rich enough. Already many men had gone into the castle, but as yet
none had come out again. Then the youth went next morning to the king,
and said: 'If it be allowed, I will willingly watch three nights in
the haunted castle.'
The king looked at him, and as the youth pleased him, he said: 'You
may ask for three things to take into the castle with you, but they
must be things without life.' Then he answered: 'Then I ask for a
Grimm's Fairy Tales |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Dynamiter by Robert Louis Stevenson and Fanny Van De Grift Stevenson: There he was, friendless and helpless; a man in the very
flower of life, for he is not yet forty; with long years of
happiness before him; and now condemned, in one moment, to a
cruel and revolting death by dynamite! The square, he said,
went round him like a thaumatrope; he saw the Alhambra leap
into the air like a balloon; and reeled against the railing.
It is probable he fainted.
When he came to himself, a constable had him by the arm.
'My God!' he cried.
'You seem to be unwell, sir,' said the hireling.
'I feel better now,' cried poor M'Guire: and with uneven
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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 Maitre Cornelius by Honore de Balzac: lower rooms where he was certain to find his sister.
"Ah! Jeanne, my dearest soul, a hoard is hidden in this house; I have
put thirteen hundred thousand crowns and all the jewels somewhere. I,
I, I am the robber!"
Jeanne Hoogworst rose from her stool and stood erect as if the seat
she quitted were of red-hot iron. This shock was so violent for an old
maid accustomed for years to reduce herself by voluntary fasts, that
she trembled in every limb, and horrible pains were in her back. She
turned pale by degrees, and her face,--the changes in which were
difficult to decipher among its wrinkles,--became distorted while her
brother explained to her the malady of which he was the victim, and
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