| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Cousin Betty by Honore de Balzac: to the window pane of some low entresol or mud-splashed ground-floor
room, you may safely conclude that the neighborhood is the lurking
place of many unlettered folks, and of much vice and crime, the
outcome of misery; for ignorance is the mother of all sorts of crime.
A crime is, in the first instance, a defect of reasoning powers.
While the Baroness had been ill, this quarter, to which she was a
minor Providence, had seen the advent of a public writer who settled
in the Passage du Soleil--Sun Alley--a spot of which the name is one
of the antitheses dear to the Parisian, for the passage is especially
dark. This writer, supposed to be a German, was named Vyder, and he
lived on matrimonial terms with a young creature of whom he was so
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Eugenie Grandet by Honore de Balzac: will try to relieve the monotony of your visit here. If you stay all
the time with Monsieur Grandet, good heavens! what will become of you?
Your uncle is a sordid miser who thinks of nothing but his vines; your
aunt is a pious soul who can't put two ideas together; and your cousin
is a little fool, without education, perfectly common, no fortune, who
will spend her life in darning towels."
"She is really very nice, this woman," thought Charles Grandet as he
duly responded to Madame des Grassins' coquetries.
"It seems to me, wife, that you are taking possession of monsieur,"
said the stout banker, laughing.
On this remark the notary and the president said a few words that were
Eugenie Grandet |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Vailima Prayers & Sabbath Morn by Robert Louis Stevenson: clans of thy handiwork. When we would despair, let us remember
that these also please and serve Thee.
BEFORE A TEMPORARY SEPARATION
TO-DAY we go forth separate, some of us to pleasure, some of us to
worship, some upon duty. Go with us, our guide and angel; hold
Thou before us in our divided paths the mark of our low calling,
still to be true to what small best we can attain to. Help us in
that, our maker, the dispenser of events - Thou, of the vast
designs, in which we blindly labour, suffer us to be so far
constant to ourselves and our beloved.
FOR FRIENDS
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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 Dracula by Bram Stoker: may have got loose, or one be bred there from a vampire.
These things do occur, you, know. Only ten days ago a wolf
got out, and was, I believe, traced up in this direction.
For a week after, the children were playing nothing but Red
Riding Hood on the Heath and in every alley in the place until
this `bloofer lady' scare came along, since then it has been
quite a gala time with them. Even this poor little mite,
when he woke up today, asked the nurse if he might go away.
When she asked him why he wanted to go, he said he wanted
to play with the `bloofer lady'."
"I hope," said Van Helsing, "that when you are sending the child
Dracula |
