| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Domestic Peace by Honore de Balzac: brow that, at this very moment, what he sees in you is not a young and
pretty woman, but the two million francs you possess? He does not love
you, my dear; he is reckoning you up as if you were an investment. If
you are bent on marrying, find an older man who has an assured
position and is half-way on his career. A widow's marriage ought not
to be a trivial love affair. Is a mouse to be caught a second time in
the same trap? A new alliance ought now to be a good speculation on
your part, and in marrying again you ought at least to have a hope of
being some day addressed as Madame la Marechale!"
As she spoke, both women naturally fixed their eyes on Colonel
Montcornet's handsome face.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Woman and Labour by Olive Schreiner: natural, beneficial; and it was inevitable that such a division should take
place. Were today a band of civilised men, women, and infants thrown down
absolutely naked and defenceless in some desert, and cut off hopelessly
from all external civilised life, undoubtedly very much the old division of
labour would, at least for a time, reassert itself; men would look about
for stones and sticks with which to make weapons to repel wild beasts and
enemies, and would go a-hunting meat and fighting savage enemies and tend
the beasts when tamed: (The young captured animals would probably be tamed
and reared by the women.) women would suckle their children, cook the meat
men brought, build shelters, look for roots and if possible cultivate them;
there certainly would be no parasite in the society; the woman who refused
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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 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne: Captain Nemo had just put his electric apparatus into use;
his companion did the same, and Conseil and I followed their example.
By turning a screw I established a communication between the wire
and the spiral glass, and the sea, lit by our four lanterns,
was illuminated for a circle of thirty-six yards.
As we walked I thought the light of our Ruhmkorff apparatus
could not fail to draw some inhabitant from its dark couch.
But if they did approach us, they at least kept at
a respectful distance from the hunters. Several times
I saw Captain Nemo stop, put his gun to his shoulder,
and after some moments drop it and walk on. At last,
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea |
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 Before Adam by Jack London: Lop-Ear and I had elected to roost for the night. The
voices of the Fire People at first alarmed us, but
later, when darkness had come, we were attracted by the
fire. We crept cautiously and silently from tree to
tree till we got a good view of the scene.
In an open space among the trees, near to the river,
the fire was burning. About it were half a dozen
Fire-Men. Lop-Ear clutched me suddenly, and I could
feel him tremble. I looked more closely, and saw the
wizened little old hunter who had shot Broken-Tooth out
of the tree years before. When he got up and walked
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