| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Unconscious Comedians by Honore de Balzac: Parisians will annihilate themselves and their fortune for it. It is
the same with systems as it is with material things. Utterly
impracticable newspapers have consumed millions within the last
fifteen years. What makes your lawsuit so hard to win, is that you
have right on your side, and on that of the prefect there are (so you
suppose) secret motives."
"Do you think that a man of intellect having once understood the
nature of Paris could live elsewhere?" said Leon to his cousin.
"Suppose we take Gazonal to old Mere Fontaine?" said Bixiou, making a
sign to the driver of a citadine to draw up; "it will be a step from
the real to the fantastic. Driver, Vieille rue du Temple."
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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 Some Reminiscences by Joseph Conrad: has remained with me through the fifteen years of my writing
life), from the moment I had, in the simplicity of my heart and
the amazing ignorance of my mind, written that page the die was
cast. Never had Rubicon been more blindly forded, without
invocation to the gods, without fear of men.
That morning I got up from my breakfast, pushing the chair back,
and rang the bell violently, or perhaps I should say resolutely,
or perhaps I should say eagerly, I do not know. But manifestly
it must have been a special ring of the bell, a common sound made
impressive, like the ringing of a bell for the raising of the
curtain upon a new scene. It was an unusual thing for me to do.
 Some Reminiscences |