| 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: in the stony paths where His almighty finger points the way. Do not
you quail at the thought of the danger to which you exposed yourself?
Arriving there without being bidden, and saying, 'Here I am!' before
your time, would you not have been cast back into a world beneath that
where your soul now hovers? Poor outcast cherub! Should you not rather
bless God for having suffered you to live in a sphere where you may
hear none but heavenly harmonies? Are you not as pure as a diamond, as
lovely as a flower?
"Think what it is to know, like me, only the City of Sorrows!--
Dwelling there I have worn out my heart.--To search the tombs for
their horrible secrets; to wipe hands steeped in blood, counting them
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tom Sawyer, Detective by Mark Twain: I says to myself, here's another one that runs to pie.
"Anything peculiar about him?--the way he acts or talks?"
"No--nothing, except he seems so scary, and keeps his
doors locked night and day both, and when you knock he
won't let you in till he opens the door a crack and sees
who it is."
"By jimminy, it's int'resting! I'd like to get a look
at him. Say--the next time you're going in there,
don't you reckon you could spread the door and--"
"No, indeedy! He's always behind it. He would block
that game."
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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 Maggie: A Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane: "Oh, Gawd," he observed.
He walked over to Maggie and whispered in her ear. "Ah, what
deh hell, Mag? Come ahn and we'll have a hell of a time."
The mother in the corner upreared her head and shook her
tangled locks.
"Teh hell wid him and you," she said, glowering at her
daughter in the gloom. Her eyes seemed to burn balefully. "Yeh've
gone teh deh devil, Mag Johnson, yehs knows yehs have gone teh deh
devil. Yer a disgrace teh yer people, damn yeh. An' now, git out
an' go ahn wid dat doe-faced jude of yours. Go teh hell wid him,
damn yeh, an' a good riddance. Go teh hell an' see how yeh likes
Maggie: A Girl of the Streets |
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 Sportsman by Xenophon: hair serves as a protection,[21] being thick and of a downy texture.
When awake it keeps on blinking its eyelids,[22] but when asleep the
eyelids remain wide open and motionless, and the eyes rigidly fixed;
during sleep it moves its nostrils frequently, if awake less often.
[20] Pollux, v. 72.
[21] Or, "as a waterproof."
[22] So Pollux, ib.
When the earth is bursting with new verdure,[23] fields and farm-lands
rather than mountains are their habitat.[24] When tracked by the
huntsman their habit is everywhere to await approach, except only in
case of some excessive scare during the night, in which case they will
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