| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Seraphita by Honore de Balzac: "None but that of the heart," answered Minna.
"And I," cried Wilfrid, casting on his companion the terrible glance
of the earthly desire that kills, "I, too, know how powerful is her
empire over me, and I will undeceive you."
At this moment, while the words were rushing from Wilfrid's lips as
rapidly as the thoughts surged in his brain, they saw Seraphita coming
towards them from the house, followed by David. The apparition calmed
the man's excitement.
"Look," he said, "could any but a woman move with that grace and
langor?"
"He suffers; he comes forth for the last time," said Minna.
Seraphita |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Westward Ho! by Charles Kingsley: missions in which (as many of them as existed anywhere but on
paper) military tyranny was superadded to monastic, and the Gospel
preached with fire and sword, almost as shamelessly as by the first
Conquistadores.
A line of Indians, Negroes, and Zambos, naked, emaciated, scarred
with whips and fetters, and chained together by their left wrists,
toiled upwards, panting and perspiring under the burden of a basket
held up by a strap which passed across their foreheads. Yeo's
sneer was but too just; there were not only old men and youths
among them, but women; slender young girls, mothers with children,
running at their knee; and, at the sight, a low murmur of
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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 Camille by Alexandre Dumas: In the next room she stopped for a moment and said to me in a low
voice:
"It must seem strange to you that I am ready to take you at a
moment's notice. Shall I tell you why? It is," she continued,
taking my hand and placing it against her heart so that I could
feel how rapidly and violently it palpitated; "it is because I
shall not live as long as others, and I have promised myself to
live more quickly."
"Don't speak to me like that, I entreat you."
"Oh, make yourself easy," she continued, laughing; "however short
a time I have to live, I shall live longer than you will love
Camille |
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 Democracy In America, Volume 1 by Alexis de Toqueville: public officers themselves are well aware that they only enjoy
the superiority over their fellow-citizens which they derive from
their authority upon condition of putting themselves on a level
with the whole community by their manners. A public officer in
the United States is uniformly civil, accessible to all the
world, attentive to all requests, and obliging in his replies. I
was pleased by these characteristics of a democratic government;
and I was struck by the manly independence of the citizens, who
respect the office more than the officer, and who are less
attached to the emblems of authority than to the man who bears
them.
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