| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne: advancing diagonally, his eyes on fire, and his jaws open.
I was mute with horror and unable to move.
The voracious creature shot towards the Indian, who threw
himself on one side to avoid the shark's fins; but not its tail,
for it struck his chest and stretched him on the ground.
This scene lasted but a few seconds: the shark returned, and,
turning on his back, prepared himself for cutting the Indian in two,
when I saw Captain Nemo rise suddenly, and then, dagger in hand,
walk straight to the monster, ready to fight face to face with him.
The very moment the shark was going to snap the unhappy fisherman
in two, he perceived his new adversary, and, turning over,
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Vicar of Tours by Honore de Balzac: women, and yet impelled to spend it in some way or other, Mademoiselle
Gamard had acquired the habit of using it in petty intrigues,
provincial cabals, and those self-seeking schemes which occupy, sooner
or later, the lives of all old maids. Birotteau, unhappily, had
developed in Sophie Gamard the only sentiments which it was possible
for that poor creature to feel,--those of hatred; a passion hitherto
latent under the calmness and monotony of provincial life, but which
was now to become the more intense because it was spent on petty
things and in the midst of a narrow sphere. Birotteau was one of those
beings who are predestined to suffer because, being unable to see
things, they cannot avoid them; to them the worst happens.
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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 Koran: We will show them our signs in the regions and in themselves,
until it is plain to them that it is the truth. Is it not enough for
thy Lord that He is witness over all? Ay, verily, they are in doubt
about the meeting of their Lord! Ay, verily, He encompasses all!
THE CHAPTER OF COUNSEL
(XLII. Mecca.)
IN the name of the merciful and compassionate God.
HA MIM, AIN SIN QAF. Thus does God, the mighty, the wise, inspire
thee and those before thee.
His is what is in the heavens and what is in the earth, and He is
the high, the mighty!
The Koran |
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 Confidence by Henry James: brutal chance, and he felt humiliated by having been favored
by so rudely-operating a divinity. Good luck and bad luck?
Bernard felt very scornful of the distinction, save that good
luck seemed to him rather the more vulgar. As the night
went on his disgust deepened, and at last the weariness it
brought with it sent him to sleep. He slept very late,
and woke up to a disagreeable consciousness. At first,
before collecting his thoughts, he could not imagine what he had
on his mind--was it that he had spoken ill of Angela Vivian?
It brought him extraordinary relief to remember that he had gone
to bed in extreme ill-humor with his exploits at roulette.
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