| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Alkahest by Honore de Balzac: Gayant procession,--Gayant, the superstitious luck of Douai, the glory
of Flemish traditions, introduced there at the time the Claes family
had emigrated from Ghent. The death of Balthazar's father and mother
had left the old mansion deserted, and the young man was occupied for
a time in settling its affairs. His first grief over, he wished to
marry; he needed the domestic happiness whose every religious aspect
had fastened upon his mind. He even followed the family custom of
seeking a wife in Ghent, or at Bruges, or Antwerp; but it happened
that no woman whom he met there suited him. Undoubtedly, he had
certain peculiar ideas as to marriage; from his youth he had been
accused of never following the beaten track.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Elizabeth and her German Garden by Marie Annette Beauchamp: but how different everything looked, and how it had shrunk!
Was this the wide orchard that had seemed to stretch away,
it and the sloping field beyond, up to the gates of heaven?
I believe nearly every child who is much alone goes through a certain
time of hourly expecting the Day of Judgment, and I had made up
my mind that on that Day the heavenly host would enter the world
by that very field, coming down the slope in shining ranks,
treading the daffodils under foot, filling the orchard with their songs
of exultation, joyously seeking out the sheep from among the goats.
Of course I was a sheep, and my governess and the head gardener goats,
so that the results could not fail to be in every way satisfactory.
Elizabeth and her German Garden |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Tin Woodman of Oz by L. Frank Baum: reminded me strongly of both of you, as you were before
you became tin. He even had a tin arm, and that
reminded me of you the more.
"No wonder!" remarked the Scarecrow.
"But, listen, Nimmie Amee!" said the astonished Woot;
"he really is both of them, for he is made of their
cast-off parts."
"Oh, you're quite wrong," declared Polychrome,
laughing, for she was greatly enjoying the confusion of
the others. "The tin men are still themselves, as they
will tell you, and so Chopfyt must be someone else."
The Tin Woodman of Oz |
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 Underground City by Jules Verne: to remove ignorance. Though, during the first years of his youth,
the pick was never out of Harry's hand, nevertheless the young
miner was not long in acquiring sufficient knowledge to raise
him into the upper class of the miners, and he would certainly
have succeeded his father as overman of the Dochart pit,
if the colliery had not been abandoned.
James Starr was still a good walker, yet he could not easily
have kept up with his guide, if the latter had not slackened
his pace. The young man, carrying the engineer's bag,
followed the left bank of the river for about a mile. Leaving its
winding course, they took a road under tall, dripping trees.
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