| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Life of the Spider by J. Henri Fabre: property; the work of the mind is not. If the animal has eccentric
views as regards the possessions of others, we have ours as well.
'Might always has the best of the argument,' said La Fontaine, to
the great scandal of the peace-lovers. The exigencies of verse,
rhyme and rhythm, carried the worthy fabulist further than he
intended: he meant to say that, in a fight between mastiffs and in
other brute conflicts, the stronger is left master of the bone. He
well knew that, as things go, success is no certificate of
excellence. Others came, the notorious evil-doers of humanity, who
made a law of the savage maxim that might is right.
We are the larvae with the changing skins, the ugly caterpillars of
The Life of the Spider |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce: reference to irregular recurrence.
OCCIDENT, n. The part of the world lying west (or east) of the
Orient. It is largely inhabited by Christians, a powerful subtribe of
the Hypocrites, whose principal industries are murder and cheating,
which they are pleased to call "war" and "commerce." These, also, are
the principal industries of the Orient.
OCEAN, n. A body of water occupying about two-thirds of a world made
for man -- who has no gills.
OFFENSIVE, adj. Generating disagreeable emotions or sensations, as
the advance of an army against its enemy.
"Were the enemy's tactics offensive?" the king asked. "I should
The Devil's Dictionary |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Poems by Bronte Sisters: I, who so long my fetter'd hands have wrung;
I, who for grief have wept my eyesight dim ;
Because, while life for me was bright and young,
He robb'd my youth--he quench'd my life's fair ray--
He crush'd my mind, and did my freedom slay.
And at this hour-although I be his wife--
He has no more of tenderness from me
Than any other wretch of guilty life ;
Less, for I know his household privacy--
I see him as he is--without a screen;
And, by the gods, my soul abhors his mien!
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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 Great Big Treasury of Beatrix Potter by Beatrix Potter: But she thought a great deal about
Ribby's pie, and she read Ribby's letter
over and over again.
"I am dreadfully afraid it WILL be
mouse!" said Duchess to herself--"I
really couldn't, COULDN'T eat mouse
pie. And I shall have to eat it, because
it is a party. And MY pie was going to
be veal and ham. A pink and white
pie-dish! and so is mine; just like
Ribby's dishes; they were both bought
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