| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Father Goriot by Honore de Balzac: mistress of the situation.
"Now! just pull down his shirt and turn him over, quick! You
might be of some use in sparing my modesty," she said to Poiret,
"instead of standing there like a stock."
Vautrin was turned over; Mlle. Michonneau gave his shoulder a
sharp slap, and the two portentous letters appeared, white
against the red.
"There, you have earned your three thousand francs very easily,"
exclaimed Poiret, supporting Vautrin while Mlle. Michonneau
slipped on the shirt again.--"Ouf! How heavy he is," he added, as
he laid the convict down.
Father Goriot |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Complete Angler by Izaak Walton: your bait will be at the best, for it will be clear and lively.
2, Having thus prepared your baits, get your tackling ready and fitted
for this sport. Take three long angling-rods; and as many and more silk,
or silk and hair, lines; and as many large swan or goose-quill floats.
Then take a piece of lead, and fasten them to the low ends of your lines:
then fasten your link-hook also to the lead; and let there be about a foot
or ten inches between the lead and the hook: but be sure the lead be
heavy enough to sink the float or quill, a little under the water; and not
the quill to bear up the lead, for the lead must lie on the ground. Note,
that your link next the hook may be smaller than the rest of your line, if
you dare adventure, for fear of taking the Pike or Perch, who will
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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 A Passion in the Desert by Honore de Balzac: dried dates, oats, and powder and shot, and to fasten a scimiter to
his waist, he leaped on to a horse, and spurred on vigorously in the
direction where he thought to find the French army. So impatient was
he to see a bivouac again that he pressed on the already tired courser
at such speed, that its flanks were lacerated with his spurs, and at
last the poor animal died, leaving the Frenchman alone in the desert.
After walking some time in the sand with all the courage of an escaped
convict, the soldier was obliged to stop, as the day had already
ended. In spite of the beauty of an Oriental sky at night, he felt he
had not strength enough to go on. Fortunately he had been able to find
a small hill, on the summit of which a few palm trees shot up into the
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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 The Firm of Nucingen by Honore de Balzac: income exactly supplied his superfluities; his material happiness was
complete.
"Suppose that it were possible to read the minds of all the young men
in Paris at one glance (as, it appears, will be done at the Day of
Judgment with all the millions upon millions that have groveled in all
spheres, and worn all uniforms or the uniform of nature), and to ask
them whether happiness at six-and-twenty is or is not made up of the
following items--to wit, to own a saddle-horse and a tilbury, or a
cab, with a fresh, rosy-faced Toby Joby Paddy no bigger than your
fist, and to hire an unimpeachable brougham for twelve francs an
evening; to appear elegantly arrayed, agreeably to the laws that
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