| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Another Study of Woman by Honore de Balzac: actress, for I doubt whether true love can give such gracious delights
as those lavished by such a dexterous fraud. Such refined hypocrisy is
as good as virtue.--I am not speaking to you Englishwomen, my lady,"
said the Minister, suavely, addressing Lady Barimore, Lord Dudley's
daughter. "I tried to be the same lover.
"I wished to have some of my hair worked up for my new angel, and I
went to a skilled artist who at that time dwelt in the Rue Boucher.
The man had a monopoly of capillary keepsakes, and I mention his
address for the benefit of those who have not much hair; he has plenty
of every kind and every color. After I had explained my order, he
showed me his work. I then saw achievements of patience surpassing
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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 Land that Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs: merchant marine. My heart swelled with pride at the thought that
presently admiring British tars would be congratulating us upon
our notable capture; and just about then the merchant steamer
must have sighted us, for she veered suddenly toward the north,
and a moment later dense volumes of smoke issued from her funnels.
Then, steering a zigzag course, she fled from us as though we had
been the bubonic plague. I altered the course of the submarine
and set off in chase; but the steamer was faster than we, and soon
left us hopelessly astern.
With a rueful smile, I directed that our original course be
resumed, and once again we set off toward merry England.
The Land that Time Forgot |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Barlaam and Ioasaph by St. John of Damascus: know, O my father, that thou art surrounded with a dense mist of
ignorance, and, walking in darkness that may be felt, seest not
even one small glimmer of light. Wherefore thou hast lost the
right pathway, and wanderest over terrible cliffs and chasms.
Holding darkness for light, and clinging to death as it were
life, thou deemest that thou art well advised, and hast reflected
to good effect: but it is not so, not so. The objects of thy
veneration are not gods but statues of devils, charged with all
their filthy power; nor is the life, which thou pronouncest sweet
and pleasant, and thinkest to be full of delight and gladness of
heart, such in kind: but the same is abominable, according to the
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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 Salome by Oscar Wilde: Bosra avec sa robe teinte de pourpre; qui eclate dans la beaute de
ses vetements, et qui marche avec une force toute puissante?
Pourquoi vos vetements sont-ils teints d'ecarlate?
HERODIAS. Rentrons. La voix de cet homme m'exaspere. Je ne veux
pas que ma fille danse pendant qu'il crie comme cela. Je ne veux
pas qu'elle danse pendant que vous la regardez comme cela. Enfin,
je ne veux pas qu'elle danse.
HERODE. Ne te leve pas, mon epouse, ma reine, c'est inutile. Je ne
rentrerai pas avant qu'elle n'ait danse. Dansez, Salome, dansez
pour moi.
HERODIAS. Ne dansez pas, ma fille.
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