| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy: never once approached since he lived out that way years before,
when his young opinions were more mystical than they were now.
The spot was deserted, but the door was certainly unfastened;
he lifted the latch without noise, and pushing to the door
behind him, stood absolutely still inside. The prevalent silence
seemed to contain a faint sound, explicable as a breathing,
or a sobbing, which came from the other end of the building.
The floor-cloth deadened his footsteps as he moved in that direction
through the obscurity, which was broken only by the faintest
reflected night-light from without.
High overhead, above the chancel steps, Jude could discern a huge,
Jude the Obscure |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Unconscious Comedians by Honore de Balzac: average of what they owe Ravenouillet is six thousand francs a month,
eighteen thousand quarterly for money advanced, postage, etc., not
counting the rents due. He is Providence--at thirty per cent, which we
all pay him, though he never asks for anything."
"Oh, Paris! Paris!" cried Gazonal.
"I'm going to take you now, cousin Gazonal," said Bixiou, after
indorsing the notes, "to see another comedian, who will play you a
charming scene gratis."
"Who is it?" said Gazonal.
"A usurer. As we go along I'll tell you the debut of friend
Ravenouillet in Paris."
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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 Commission in Lunacy by Honore de Balzac: Popinot's stairs, perspiring and panting. She had, with great
difficulty, got out of a green landau, which suited her to a miracle;
you could not think of the woman without the landau, or the landau
without the woman.
"It is I, my dear sir," said she, appearing in the doorway of the
judge's room. "Madame Jeanrenaud, whom you summoned exactly as if I
were a thief, neither more nor less."
The common words were spoken in a common voice, broken by the wheezing
of asthma, and ending in a cough.
"When I go through a damp place, I can't tell you what I suffer, sir.
I shall never make old bones, saving your presence. However, here I
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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 Case of The Lamp That Went Out by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner: interesting to him. Several subjects of conversation usual in such
cases, such as politics and the weather, seemed to arouse no
particular enthusiasm in his patron's manner. Finally the portly
landlord decided that he would touch upon the theme which was still
absorbing all Hietzing.
"Oh, by the way, sir, do you know that you are in the immediate
vicinity of the place where the murder of Monday evening was
committed? People are still talking about it around here. And I
see by the papers that the murderer was arrested in Pressburg
yesterday and brought to Vienna last night."
"Indeed, is that so? I haven't seen a paper to-day," replied
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