| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Commission in Lunacy by Honore de Balzac: adapt facts to principles, to judge cases of infinite variety while
measuring them by a fixed standard.
France employs about six thousand judges; no generation has six
thousand great men at her command, much less can she find them in the
legal profession. Popinot, in the midst of the civilization of Paris,
was just a very clever cadi, who, by the character of his mind, and by
dint of rubbing the letter of the law into the essence of facts, had
learned to see the error of spontaneous and violent decisions. By the
help of his judicial second-sight he could pierce the double casing of
lies in which advocates hide the heart of a trial. He was a judge, as
the great Desplein was a surgeon; he probed men's consciences as the
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from King James Bible: bring again the captivity of Elam, saith the LORD.
JER 50:1 The word that the LORD spake against Babylon and against the
land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.
JER 50:2 Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and set up a
standard; publish, and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is
confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her
images are broken in pieces.
JER 50:3 For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her,
which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they
shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast.
JER 50:4 In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the children
King James Bible |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from An Episode Under the Terror by Honore de Balzac: "My son, if your hands are stained with the blood of the royal martyr,
confide in me. There is no sin that may not be blotted out in the
sight of God by penitence as sincere and touching as yours appears to
be."
At the first words the man started with terror, in spite of himself.
Then he recovered composure, and looked quietly at the astonished
priest.
"Father," he said, and the other could not miss the tremor in his
voice, "no one is more guiltless than I of the blood shed----"
"I am bound to believe you," said the priest. He paused a moment, and
again he scrutinized his penitent. But, persisting in the idea that
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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 Brother of Daphne by Dornford Yates: Romance beyond. Perhaps it does not matter. Anyway, it was on
the slope of a green meadow all among the mountains of Krain that
the girl was sitting, herself unminded, minding her cows. And
out of the woods above her a round, white tower proclaimed a
chateau set on the shoulder of a hill.
Her dress was that of the country, and yet, perhaps, rather such
as Croatian peasants wear. All white linen, embroidered ever so
richly, cut low and round at the neck, and with the skirt falling
some four inches below her knee: short sleeves, a small, white
apron, and over her thick, fair hair a bright red kerchief. But
her stockings were of white silk, and small, black buckled
The Brother of Daphne |
