| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Stories From the Old Attic by Robert Harris: what was good enough for academe was good enough for him, so he sat
back and opened a beer. Presently his foreman came along and wanted
to know what was going on. Said the worker, "Oh, the hole is
already dug; I just haven't taken out the dirt yet." The foreman,
not having been enlightened by Higher Education, fired the worker,
right in the middle of his beer.
* * *
A man on foot approached an abandoned auto wrecking yard that still
had many old pieces of assorted cars lying around. "What an
enormous pile of worthless junk," he said to himself as he walked
by. The next day another man on foot approached the same yard.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Alkahest by Honore de Balzac: "Decompose nitrogen!" said the poor woman as she re-entered her
chamber, and burst into tears.
The phrase was unintelligible to her. Men, trained by education to
have a general conception of everything, have no idea how distressing
it is for a woman to be unable to comprehend the thought of the man
she loves. More forbearing than we, these divine creatures do not let
us know when the language of their souls is not understood by us; they
shrink from letting us feel the superiority of their feelings, and
hide their pain as gladly as they silence their wishes: but, having
higher ambitions in love than men, they desire to wed not only the
heart of a husband, but his mind.
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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 The Life of the Spider by J. Henri Fabre: she finishes rearing her young as when she began. She has not lost
weight: far from it; on the contrary, she has put on flesh: she
has gained the wherewithal to beget a new family next summer, one
as numerous as to-day's.
Once more, with what do the little ones keep up their strength? We
do not like to suggest reserves supplied by the egg as rectifying
the beastie's expenditure of vital force, especially when we
consider that those reserves, themselves so close to nothing, must
be economized in view of the silk, a material of the highest
importance, of which a plentiful use will be made presently. There
must be other powers at play in the tiny animal's machinery.
The Life of the Spider |
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 A Sentimental Journey by Laurence Sterne: chaise box being of no great use without them, I submitted to go
on.
He had not mounted half a mile higher, when, coming to a flinty
piece of road, the poor devil lost a second shoe, and from off his
other fore foot. I then got out of the chaise in good earnest; and
seeing a house about a quarter of a mile to the left hand, with a
great deal to do I prevailed upon the postilion to turn up to it.
The look of the house, and of every thing about it, as we drew
nearer, soon reconciled me to the disaster. - It was a little farm-
house, surrounded with about twenty acres of vineyard, about as
much corn; - and close to the house, on one side, was a POTAGERIE
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