| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll: surprised at not being able to think of the word. `I mean to get
under the--under the--under THIS, you know!' putting her
hand on the trunk of the tree. `What DOES it call itself, I
wonder? I do believe it's got no name--why, to be sure it
hasn't!'
She stood silent for a minute, thinking: then she suddenly
began again. `Then it really HAS happened, after all! And now,
who am I? I WILL remember, if I can! I'm determined to do it!'
But being determined didn't help much, and all she could say,
after a great deal of puzzling, was, `L, I KNOW it begins with L!'
Just then a Fawn came wandering by: it looked at Alice with
Through the Looking-Glass |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Secrets of the Princesse de Cadignan by Honore de Balzac: sayer of witty things, colonel by the grace of God, and a good soldier
by accident; brave as a Pole, which means without sense or
discernment, and hiding the emptiness of his mind under the jargon of
good society. After the age of thirty-six he was forced to be as
absolutely indifferent to the fair sex as his master Charles X.,
punished, like that master, for having pleased it too well. For
eighteen years the idol of the faubourg Saint-Germain, he had, like
other heirs of great families led a dissipated life, spent solely on
pleasure. His father, ruined by the revolution, had somewhat recovered
his position on the return of the Bourbons, as governor of a royal
domain, with salary and perquisites; but this uncertain fortune the
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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 Damnation of Theron Ware by Harold Frederic: as moonlit sculpture. It went on upward with stately
collectedness of power, till the atmosphere seemed all
alive with the trembling consciousness of the presence
of lofty souls, sternly pure and pitilessly great.
Theron found himself moved as he had never been before.
He almost resented the discovery, when it was presented
to him by the prosaic, mechanical side of his brain,
that he was listening to organ-music, and that it came
through the open window from the church close by.
He would fain have reclined in his chair and closed
his eyes, and saturated himself with the uttermost fulness
The Damnation of Theron Ware |
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 Tales of the Klondyke by Jack London: mightier than you. Come, Dave, let us go. We are young yet, and
life is good. Come."
Winapie, passing out of the cabin to feed the dogs, caught his
attention and caused him to shake his head and weakly to
reiterate. But the woman's hand slipped about his neck, and her
cheek pressed to his. His bleak life rose up and smote him,--the
vain struggle with pitiless forces; the dreary years of frost and
famine; the harsh and jarring contact with elemental life; the
aching void which mere animal existence could not fill. And
there, seduction by his side, whispering of brighter, warmer
lands, of music, light, and joy, called the old times back again.
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