| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from At the Sign of the Cat & Racket by Honore de Balzac: mother. This will cause some surprise to those who have entered into
the spirit of the household, where an idea tainted with poetry would
be in startling contrast to persons and things, where no one could
venture on a gesture or a look which would not be seen and analyzed.
Nothing, however, could be more natural: the quiet barque that
navigated the stormy waters of the Paris Exchange, under the flag of
the Cat and Racket, was just now in the toils of one of these tempests
which, returning periodically, might be termed equinoctial. For the
last fortnight the five men forming the crew, with Madame Guillaume
and Mademoiselle Virginie, had been devoting themselves to the hard
labor, known as stock-taking.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A treatise on Good Works by Dr. Martin Luther: net; the loss risked is always greater than the catch can be."
For he who guides a wagon must walk far otherwise than if he were
walking alone; when alone he may walk, jump, and do as he will;
but when he drives, he must so guide and adapt himself that the
wagon and horses can follow him, and regard that more than his
own will. So also a prince leads a multitude with him and must
not walk and act as he wills, but as the multitude can,
considering their need and advantage more than his will and
pleasure. For when a prince rules after his own mad will and
follows his own opinion, he is like a mad driver, who rushes
straight ahead with horse and wagon, through bushes, thorns,
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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 Wrecker by Stevenson & Osbourne: men, but there's no going to sea with a new-chum cook. I can
lay hands on the man we want for that: a Highway boy, an old
shipmate of mine, of the name of Amalu. Cooks first rate, and
it's always better to have a native; he aint fly, you can turn him
to as you please, and he don't know enough to stand out for his
rights."
From the moment that Captain Wicks joined in the
conversation, Carthew recovered interest and confidence; the
man (whatever he might have done) was plainly good-natured,
and plainly capable; if he thought well of the enterprise, offered
to contribute money, brought experience, and could thus solve
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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 The Reef by Edith Wharton: luggage, as to which she was giving involved but lucid
directions to the footman who had just admitted her. She
went on with these directions regardless of Darrow's
entrance, merely fixing her small pale eyes on him while she
proceeded, in a deep contralto voice, and a fluent French
pronounced with the purest Boston accent, to specify the
destination of her bags; and this enabled Darrow to give her
back a gaze protracted enough to take in all the details of
her plain thick-set person, from the square sallow face
beneath bands of grey hair to the blunt boot-toes protruding
under her wide walking skirt.
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