| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Country Doctor by Honore de Balzac: horse. I daresay you and Jacquotte will manage to get on together
whilst I am away."
"Will you not come with us?" said Genestas to La Fosseuse.
"Willingly," she answered; "I have a lot of things to take over for
Mme. Jacquotte.
They started out for the doctor's house. Her visitors had raised La
Fosseuse's spirits; she led the way along narrow tracks, through the
loneliest parts of the hills.
"You have told us nothing about yourself, Monsieur l'Officier," she
said. "I should have liked to hear you tell us about some adventure in
the wars. I liked what you told us about Napoleon very much, but it
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tess of the d'Urbervilles, A Pure Woman by Thomas Hardy: starched white shirt. Without the milking-gear nobody
could have guessed what he was. He might with equal
probability have been an eccentric landowner or a
gentlemanly ploughman. That he was but a novice at
dairy work she had realized in a moment, from the time
he had spent upon the milking of one cow.
Meanwhile many of the milkmaids had said to one another
of the newcomer, "How pretty she is!" with something of
real generosity and admiration, though with a half hope
that the auditors would qualify the assertion--which,
strictly speaking, they might have done, prettiness
Tess of the d'Urbervilles, A Pure Woman |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Court Life in China by Isaac Taylor Headland: troops, would never venture to go to war with them. They fail to
understand, however, that there are certain things that this
empire can never consent to, and that, if hardly pressed upon, we
have no alternative but to rely upon the justice of our cause,
the knowledge of which in our breasts strengthens our resolves
and steels us to present a united front against our aggressors.
No one can guarantee, under such circumstances, who will be the
victor and who the vanquished in the end. But there is an evil
habit which has become almost a custom among our viceroys and
governors which, however, must be eradicated at all costs. For
instance, whenever these high officials have had on their hands
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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 Smalcald Articles by Dr. Martin Luther: And when it happened that any one said that he could not have
contrition nor lament his sins (as might have occurred in
illicit love or the desire for revenge, etc.), they asked
whether he did not wish or desire to have contrition [lament].
When one would reply Yes (for who, save the devil himself,
would here say No?), they accepted this as contrition, and
forgave him his sins on account of this good work of his
[which they adorned with the name of contrition]. Here they
cited the example of St. Bernard, etc.
Here we see how blind reason, in matters pertaining to God,
gropes about, and, according to its own imagination, seeks for
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