| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Don Quixote by Miquel de Cervantes: because she had not one to hand there to give thee; but sleeves are
good after Easter; I shall see her and all shall be made right. But
knowest thou what amazes me, Sancho? It seems to me thou must have
gone and come through the air, for thou hast taken but little more
than three days to go to El Toboso and return, though it is more
than thirty leagues from here to there. From which I am inclined to
think that the sage magician who is my friend, and watches over my
interests (for of necessity there is and must be one, or else I should
not be a right knight-errant), that this same, I say, must have helped
thee to travel without thy knowledge; for some of these sages will
catch up a knight-errant sleeping in his bed, and without his
Don Quixote |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Island Nights' Entertainments by Robert Louis Stevenson: recover my breath, into the borders of the wood, and bring me the
leaves of such and such a herb, and such and such a tree, which you
will find to grow there plentifully - three handfuls of each. And
be speedy. We must be home again before the steamer comes; it
would seem strange if we had disappeared." And he sat on the sand
and panted.
Keola went up the beach, which was of shining sand and coral,
strewn with singular shells; and he thought in his heart -
"How do I not know this beach? I will come here again and gather
shells."
In front of him was a line of palms against the sky; not like the
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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 At the Sign of the Cat & Racket by Honore de Balzac: state of affairs. At half-past six, the dining-room immortalized by
the artist saw, united under its skylight, Monsieur and Madame Roguin,
the young painter and his charming Augustine, Joseph Lebas, who found
his happiness in patience, and Mademoiselle Virginie, convalescent
from her headache. Monsieur and Madame Guillaume saw in perspective
both their children married, and the fortunes of the Cat and Racket
once more in skilful hands. Their satisfaction was at its height when,
at dessert, Theodore made them a present of the wonderful picture
which they had failed to see, representing the interior of the old
shop, and to which they all owed so much happiness.
"Isn't it pretty!" cried Guillaume. "And to think that any one would
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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 Letters of Two Brides by Honore de Balzac: body, those beautiful proud features, that natural grace of manner,
that soul full of priceless gifts, those eyes, where the soul can
slake its thirst as at a fountain of love, that heart, with its
exquisite delicacy, that breadth of mind, those rare powers--fruit of
nature and of our interchange of thought--treasures whence should
issue a unique satisfaction for passion and desire, hours of poetry to
outweigh years, joys to make a man serve a lifetime for one gracious
gesture,--all this is to be buried in the tedium of a tame,
commonplace marriage, to vanish in the emptiness of an existence which
you will come to loath! I hate your children before they are born.
They will be monsters!
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