| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Tales of the Klondyke by Jack London: community had an innate sense of the fitness of things, and not
once was Joy vexed by overtures for his use. And the factions
drew consolation from the fact that if one man did not profit by
him, neither should the other.
However, since man, in the individual or in the aggregate, has
been so fashioned that he goes through life blissfully obtuse to
the deeper subtleties of his womankind, so the men of Forty Mile
failed to divine the inner deviltry of Joy Molineau. They
confessed, afterward, that they had failed to appreciate this
dark-eyed daughter of the aurora, whose father had traded furs in
the country before ever they dreamed of invading it, and who had
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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 Lily of the Valley by Honore de Balzac: this earth; all flowers fade; great joys and emotions have a morrow of
evil--if a morrow at all. Real life is a life of anguish; its image is
in that nettle growing there at the foot of the wall,--no sun can
reach it and it keeps green. Yet, here, as in parts of the North,
there are smiles in the sky, few to be sure, but they compensate for
many a grief. Moreover, women who are naturally mothers live and love
far more through sacrifices than through pleasures. Here I draw upon
myself the storms I fear may break upon my children or my people; and
in doing so I feel a something I cannot explain, which gives me secret
courage. The resignation of the night carries me through the day that
follows. God does not leave me comfortless. Time was when the
The Lily of the Valley |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Lily of the Valley by Honore de Balzac: place beside her, and gave me permission to share her sorrows; like
the repentant apostate, eager to rise to heaven with his brethren, I
obtained the favor of dying in the arena.
"Were it not for you I must have succumbed under this life," Henriette
said to me one evening when the count had been, like the flies on a
hot day, more stinging, venomous, and persistent than usual.
He had gone to bed. Henriette and I remained under the acacias; the
children were playing about us, bathed in the setting sun. Our few
exclamatory words revealed the mutuality of the thoughts in which we
rested from our common sufferings. When language failed silence as
faithfully served our souls, which seemed to enter one another without
The Lily of the Valley |
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 Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad: He shook his head.
"Take it," I urged him, whispering desperately.
"No one can tell what--"
He smiled and slapped meaningly the only pocket of the sleeping jacket.
It was not safe, certainly. But I produced a large old silk handkerchief
of mine, and tying the three pieces of gold in a corner, pressed it on him.
He was touched, I supposed, because he took it at last and tied it quickly
round his waist under the jacket, on his bare skin.
Our eyes met; several seconds elapsed, till, our glances
still mingled, I extended my hand and turned the lamp out.
Then I passed through the cuddy, leaving the door of my room wide open.
The Secret Sharer |
