| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Lover's Complaint by William Shakespeare: Even there resolv'd my reason into tears;
There my white stole of chastity I daff'd,
Shook off my sober guards, and civil fears;
Appear to him, as he to me appears,
All melting; though our drops this difference bore:
His poison'd me, and mine did him restore.
'In him a plenitude of subtle matter,
Applied to cautels, all strange forms receives,
Of burning blushes or of weeping water,
Or swooning paleness; and he takes and leaves,
In either's aptness, as it best deceives,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Sanitary and Social Lectures by Charles Kingsley: diamond. Nay, it may go--in such a world of transformations do we
live--to make atoms of coal strata, which after being buried for
ages beneath deep seas, shall be upheaved in continents which are
yet unborn, and there be burnt for the use of a future race of
men, and resolved into their original elements. Coal, wise men
tell us, is on the whole breath and sunlight; the breath of living
creatures who have lived in the vast swamps and forests of some
primeval world, and the sunlight which transmuted that breath into
the leaves and stems of trees, magically locked up for ages in
that black stone, to become, when it is burnt at last, light and
carbonic acid as it was at first. For though you must not breathe
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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 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle: part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black
vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment,
for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower
part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character,
with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive
of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy.
"You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a
strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He
looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to
address.
"Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes |
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 Deputy of Arcis by Honore de Balzac: coming towards them. A moment later, and the /porte cochere/ of that
house vomited the sixty-seven conspirators.
"So you went to that meeting?" said Antonin Goulard to Poupart.
"I shall never go again, monsieur le sous-prefet," said the innkeeper.
"The son of Monsieur Keller is dead, and I have now no object in going
there. God has taken upon himself to clear the ground."
"Well, Pigoult, what happened?" cried Olivier Vinet, catching sight of
the young notary.
"Oh!" said Pigoult, on whose forehead the perspiration, which had not
dried, bore testimony to his efforts, "Simon has just told some news
that made them all unanimous. Except five persons,--Poupart, my
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