| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin: building a line of forts. I undertook this military business, tho' I did
not conceive myself well qualified for it. He gave me a commission
with full powers, and a parcel of blank commissions for officers,
to be given to whom I thought fit. I had but little difficulty
in raising men, having soon five hundred and sixty under my command.
My son, who had in the preceding war been an officer in the army
rais'd against Canada, was my aid-de-camp, and of great use to me.
The Indians had burned Gnadenhut, a village settled by the Moravians,
and massacred the inhabitants; but the place was thought a good
situation for one of the forts.
In order to march thither, I assembled the companies at Bethlehem,
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tales of Unrest by Joseph Conrad: earth between the cut grass, and thick hedges to keep people out.
The third night we came armed, and lay behind a hedge.
"A heavy dew seemed to soak through our flesh and made our very
entrails cold. The grass, the twigs, the leaves, covered with drops of
water, were gray in the moonlight. Matara, curled up in the grass,
shivered in his sleep. My teeth rattled in my head so loud that I was
afraid the noise would wake up all the land. Afar, the watchmen of
white men's houses struck wooden clappers and hooted in the darkness.
And, as every night, I saw her by my side. She smiled no more! . . .
The fire of anguish burned in my breast, and she whispered to me with
compassion, with pity, softly--as women will; she soothed the pain of
Tales of Unrest |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Muse of the Department by Honore de Balzac: Cathedral apse.
"At last, overwhelmed by remorse, she confessed to a horrible crime.
She had killed her husband, as Fualdes was murdered, by bleeding him;
she had salted the body and packed it in pieces into old casks,
exactly as if it have been pork; and for a long time she had taken a
piece every morning and thrown it into the Loire. Her confessor
consulted his superiors, and told her that it would be his duty to
inform the public prosecutor. The woman awaited the action of the Law.
The public prosecutor and the examining judge, on examining the
cellar, found the husband's head still in pickle in one of the casks.
--'Wretched woman,' said the judge to the accused, 'since you were so
The Muse of the Department |
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 Tao Teh King by Lao-tze: 2. 1. All in the world know the beauty of the beautiful, and in doing
this they have (the idea of) what ugliness is; they all know the skill
of the skilful, and in doing this they have (the idea of) what the
want of skill is.
2. So it is that existence and non-existence give birth the one to
(the idea of) the other; that difficulty and ease produce the one (the
idea of) the other; that length and shortness fashion out the one the
figure of the other; that (the ideas of) height and lowness arise from
the contrast of the one with the other; that the musical notes and
tones become harmonious through the relation of one with another; and
that being before and behind give the idea of one following another.
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