| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from New Arabian Nights by Robert Louis Stevenson: many assurances of trust and regard - sometimes by express in a
letter - sometimes face to face, with persons of great consequence
falling on his neck. It is not wonderful if his head is turned for
a time. But once he is dead, were he as brave as Hercules or as
wise as Solomon, he is soon forgotten. It is not ten years since
my father fell, with many other knights around him, in a very
fierce encounter, and I do not think that any one of them, nor so
much as the name of the fight, is now remembered. No, no, madam,
the nearer you come to it, you see that death is a dark and dusty
corner, where a man gets into his tomb and has the door shut after
him till the judgment day. I have few friends just now, and once I
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from An Historical Mystery by Honore de Balzac: Cygne, which had lately been renewed at a notable increase. Monsieur
and Madame d'Hauteserre had provided for their old age by the purchase
of an annuity of three thousand francs in the Tontines Lafarge. That
fragment of their former means did not enable them to live elsewhere
than at Cinq-Cygne, and Laurence's first act on coming to her majority
was to give them the use for life of the wing of the chateau which
they occupied.
The Hauteserres, as niggardly for their ward as they were for
themselves, laid up every year nearly the whole of their annuity for
the benefit of their sons, and kept the young heiress on miserable
fare. The whole cost of the Cinq-Cygne household never exceeded five
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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 At the Earth's Core by Edgar Rice Burroughs: my awful doom. At a low level we came upon a number
of lighted chambers in which we saw many Mahars engaged
in various occupations. To one of these chambers my guard
escorted me, and before leaving they chained me to a
side wall. There were other humans similarly chained.
Upon a long table lay a victim even as I was ushered
into the room. Several Mahars stood about the poor
creature holding him down so that he could not move.
Another, grasping a sharp knife with her three-toed
fore foot, was laying open the victim's chest and abdomen.
No anesthetic had been administered and the shrieks
At the Earth's Core |
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 Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde: of Commons worth painting, though many of them would be the better
for a little whitewashing."
"Dorian Gray is engaged to be married," said Lord Henry,
watching him as he spoke.
Hallward started and then frowned. "Dorian engaged to be married!"
he cried. "Impossible!"
"It is perfectly true."
"To whom?"
"To some little actress or other."
"I can't believe it. Dorian is far too sensible."
"Dorian is far too wise not to do foolish things now and then,
The Picture of Dorian Gray |
