| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Book of Remarkable Criminals by H. B. Irving: failure, were the real motives. Or was it not perhaps that you
had been in the habit of rendering somewhat dubious services to
some of your promiscuous clients?
Fenayrou: Nothing of the kind, I swear it!
President: Do not protest too much. Remember that among your
acquaintances you were suspected of cheating at cards. As a
chemist you had been convinced of fraud. Perhaps Aubert knew
something against you. Some act of poisoning, or abortion, in
which you had been concerned? Many witnesses have believed this.
Your mother-in-law is said to have remarked, "My son-in-law will
end in jail."
A Book of Remarkable Criminals |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Thus Spake Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche: voice. For it was a valley which all animals avoided, even the beasts of
prey, except that a species of ugly, thick, green serpent came here to die
when they became old. Therefore the shepherds called this valley:
"Serpent-death."
Zarathustra, however, became absorbed in dark recollections, for it seemed
to him as if he had once before stood in this valley. And much heaviness
settled on his mind, so that he walked slowly and always more slowly, and
at last stood still. Then, however, when he opened his eyes, he saw
something sitting by the wayside shaped like a man, and hardly like a man,
something nondescript. And all at once there came over Zarathustra a great
shame, because he had gazed on such a thing. Blushing up to the very roots
Thus Spake Zarathustra |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Pellucidar by Edgar Rice Burroughs: There was nothing for us to do but try to keep the
canoe right side up and straight before the wind. For
what seemed an eternity the tempest neither increased
nor abated. I judged that we must have blown a hun-
dred miles before the wind and straight out into an
unknown sea!
As suddenly as the wind rose it died again, and
when it died it veered to blow at right angles to its
former course in a gentle breeze. I asked Juag then
what our course was, for he had had the compass last.
It had been on a leather thong about his neck. When
Pellucidar |
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 Walden by Henry David Thoreau: city, by hay-cart loads. But I have since learned that trade curses
everything it handles; and though you trade in messages from heaven,
the whole curse of trade attaches to the business.
As I preferred some things to others, and especially valued my
freedom, as I could fare hard and yet succeed well, I did not wish
to spend my time in earning rich carpets or other fine furniture, or
delicate cookery, or a house in the Grecian or the Gothic style just
yet. If there are any to whom it is no interruption to acquire
these things, and who know how to use them when acquired, I
relinquish to them the pursuit. Some are "industrious," and appear
to love labor for its own sake, or perhaps because it keeps them out
Walden |
