| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Elixir of Life by Honore de Balzac: received extreme unction, and I should be inconsolable if you
were to die before my eyes in mortal sin."
"Will you listen to me?" cried Bartolommeo, and his mouth
twitched.
Don Juan held his peace; an ugly silence prevailed. Yet above the
muffled sound of the beating of the snow against the windows rose
the sounds of the beautiful voice and the viol in unison, far off
and faint as the dawn. The dying man smiled.
"Thank you," he said, "for bringing those singing voices and the
music, a banquet, young and lovely women with fair faces and dark
tresses, all the pleasure of life! Bid them wait for me; for I am
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from King James Bible: first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with
them, unto the name of the LORD thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel,
because he hath glorified thee.
ISA 60:10 And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their
kings shall minister unto thee: for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my
favour have I had mercy on thee.
ISA 60:11 Therefore thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not
be shut day nor night; that men may bring unto thee the forces of the
Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought.
ISA 60:12 For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall
perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted.
King James Bible |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Daughter of Eve by Honore de Balzac: relating to personal comfort. Religious egotism had long dried up
those hearts devoted to narrow duties and entrenched behind pious
practices. Silent games of cards occupied the whole evening, and the
two young girls under the ban of that Sanhedrim enforced by maternal
severity, came to hate the dispiriting personages about them with
their hollow eyes and scowling faces.
On the gloom of this life one sole figure of a man, that of a music-
master, stood vigorously forth. The confessors had decided that music
was a Christian art, born of the Catholic Church and developed within
her. The two Maries were therefore permitted to study music. A
spinster in spectacles, who taught singing and the piano in a
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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 Case of The Lamp That Went Out by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner: therefore, that Muller spent about ten minutes wandering about the
garden, and ten minutes were quite sufficient for him to become so
well acquainted with the place that he could have drawn a map of
it. He left the garden through the rear gate, the latch of which
he was obliged to leave open. The gardener's wife found it that
way several hours later and was rather surprised thereat. Muller
walked down the street rapidly and caught a passing tramway. His
mood was not of the best, for he could not make up his mind whether
or no this morning had been a lost one. His mind sorted and
rearranged all that he knew or could imagine concerning Mrs.
Bernaner. But there was hardly enough of these facts to reassure
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