| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin: also, see how it is that the breeds so often have a somewhat monstrous
character. It is also a most favourable circumstance for the production of
distinct breeds, that male and female pigeons can be easily mated for life;
and thus different breeds can be kept together in the same aviary.
I have discussed the probable origin of domestic pigeons at some, yet quite
insufficient, length; because when I first kept pigeons and watched the
several kinds, knowing well how true they bred, I felt fully as much
difficulty in believing that they could ever have descended from a common
parent, as any naturalist could in coming to a similar conclusion in regard
to the many species of finches, or other large groups of birds, in nature.
One circumstance has struck me much; namely, that all the breeders of the
On the Origin of Species |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Master and Man by Leo Tolstoy: Andreevich. 'I shall lose the track and not catch the horse.'
But at that moment he saw something black. It was Mukhorty,
and not only Mukhorty, but the sledge with the shafts and the
kerchief. Mukhorty, with the sacking and the breechband
twisted round to one side, was standing not in his former place
but nearer to the shafts, shaking his head which the reins he
was stepping on drew downwards. It turned out that Vasili
Andreevich had sunk in the same ravine Nikita had previously
fallen into, and that Mukhorty had been bringing him back to
the sledge and he had got off his back no more than fifty paces
from where the sledge was.
Master and Man |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Arrow of Gold by Joseph Conrad: "And you believe in its success?"
"Do you?"
"Not for a moment," I declared, and was surprised to see her look
pleased.
She was an aristocrat to the tips of her fingers; she really didn't
care for anybody. She had passed through the Empire, she had lived
through a siege, had rubbed shoulders with the Commune, had seen
everything, no doubt, of what men are capable in the pursuit of
their desires or in the extremity of their distress, for love, for
money, and even for honour; and in her precarious connection with
the very highest spheres she had kept her own honourability
The Arrow of Gold |
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 A Sentimental Journey by Laurence Sterne: Traveller, ask'd us, if we set out for Paris the next morning? - I
could only answer for myself, I said; and the lady added, she was
for Amiens. - We dined there yesterday, said the Simple Traveller.
- You go directly through the town, added the other, in your road
to Paris. I was going to return a thousand thanks for the
intelligence, THAT AMIENS WAS IN THE ROAD TO PARIS, but, upon
pulling out my poor monk's little horn box to take a pinch of
snuff, I made them a quiet bow, and wishing them a good passage to
Dover. - They left us alone. -
- Now where would be the harm, said I to myself, if I were to beg
of this distressed lady to accept of half of my chaise? - and what
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