| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A treatise on Good Works by Dr. Martin Luther: work of any other Commandment without the same faith: thus every
one may easily by this Commandment test and weigh himself whether
he be a Christian and truly believe in Christ, and thus whether
he is doing good works or no. Now we see how the Almighty God has
not only set our Lord Jesus Christ before us that we should
believe in Him with such confidence, but also holds before us in
Him an example of this same confidence and of such good works,
to the end that we should believe in Him, follow Him and abide
in Him forever; as He says, John xiv: "I am the Way, the Truth
and the Life," -- the Way, in which we follow Him; the Truth,
that we believe in Him; the Life, that we live in Him forever.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Glimpses of the Moon by Edith Wharton: could they have than her smothered heart-beats, her choked-back
tears?
The bell rang, and she stood up as if a spring had jerked her to
her feet. In the mirror between the dried grasses her face
looked long pale inanimate. Ah, if he should find her too
changed--! If there were but time to dash upstairs and put on a
touch of red ....
The door opened; it shut on him; he was there.
He said: "You wanted to see me?"
She answered: "Yes." And her heart seemed to stop beating.
At first she could not make out what mysterious change had come
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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 A Start in Life by Honore de Balzac: Cabirolos, where we shall play cards, and you'll see the elite of the
women of fashion. Therefore, gentleman of the lower courts," he added,
with notarial assumption, "you will have to behave yourselves, and
carry your wine like the seigneurs of the Regency."
"Hurrah!" cried the office like one man. "Bravo! very well! vivat!
Long live the Marests!"
"What's all this about?" asked Desroches, coming out from his private
office. "Ah! is that you, Georges? I know what you are after; you want
to demoralize my clerks."
So saying, he withdrew into his own room, calling Oscar after him.
"Here," he said, opening his cash-box, "are five hundred francs. Go to
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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 House of Dust by Conrad Aiken: IX. INTERLUDE
The days, the nights, flow one by one above us,
The hours go silently over our lifted faces,
We are like dreamers who walk beneath a sea.
Beneath high walls we flow in the sun together.
We sleep, we wake, we laugh, we pursue, we flee.
We sit at tables and sip our morning coffee,
We read the papers for tales of lust or crime.
The door swings shut behind the latest comer.
We set our watches, regard the time.
What have we done? I close my eyes, remember
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