| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Illustrious Gaudissart by Honore de Balzac: I have already had the honor to tell you, when you have once fixed
upon the value of your intellectual capital,--for it is intellectual
capital,--seize that idea firmly,--intellectual--"
"I understand," said the fool.
"You sign a policy of insurance with a company which recognizes in you
a value of a hundred thousand crowns; in you, poet--"
"I am a painter," said the lunatic.
"Yes," resumed Gaudissart,--"painter, poet, musician, statesman--and
binds itself to pay them over to your family, your heirs, if, by
reason of your death, the hopes foundered on your intellectual capital
should be overthrown for you personally. The payment of the premium is
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Return of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs: to her feet.
She clung to him for a moment.
"How strong m'sieur is, and how active," she cried.
"EL ADREA, the black lion, himself is not more so."
"I should like to meet this EL ADREA of yours," he said.
"I have heard much about him."
"And you come to the DOUAR of my father you shall see
him," said the girl. "He lives in a spur of the mountains
north of us, and comes down from his lair at night to rob my
father's DOUAR. With a single blow of his mighty paw he
crushes the skull of a bull, and woe betide the belated
The Return of Tarzan |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell: disappointing, for she had little opportunity for the long quiet
talks with her mother to which she looked forward while in
Atlanta, no time to sit by Ellen while she sewed, smelling the
faint fragrance of lemon verbena sachet as her skirts rustled,
feeling her soft hands on her cheek in a gentle caress.
Ellen was thin and preoccupied now and on her feet from morning
until long after the plantation was asleep. The demands of the
Confederate commissary were growing heavier by the month, and hers
was the task of making Tara produce. Even Gerald was busy, for
the first time in many years, for he could get no overseer to take
Jonas Wilkerson's place and he was riding his own acres. With
Gone With the Wind |
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 Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald: mass of the station into the glowing sunshine. But immediately she
turned sharply from the window and, leaning forward, tapped on the
front glass.
"I want to get one of those dogs," she said earnestly. "I want to get one
for the apartment. They're nice to have--a dog."
We backed up to a gray old man who bore an absurd resemblance to John
D. Rockefeller. In a basket swung from his neck cowered a dozen very
recent puppies of an indeterminate breed.
"What kind are they?" asked Mrs. Wilson eagerly, as he came to the
taxi-window.
"All kinds. What kind do you want, lady?"
The Great Gatsby |
