| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Daughter of Eve by Honore de Balzac: other a daughter. Eugenie, as a girl, was thought very giddy by her
mother, who had therefore treated her with especial watchfulness and
severity. In the eyes of that much-feared mother, Angelique, noble and
proud, appeared to have a soul so lofty that it would guard itself,
whereas, the more lively Eugenie needed restraint. There are many
charming beings misused by fate,--beings who ought by rights to
prosper in this life, but who live and die unhappy, tortured by some
evil genius, the victims of unfortunate circumstances. The innocent
and naturally light-hearted Eugenie had fallen into the hands and
beneath the malicious despotism of a self-made man on leaving the
maternal prison. Angelique, whose nature inclined her to deeper
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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 Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy: Chauvelin. He and the few young jackanapes under his command, well
furnished with money, armed with boundless daring, and acute cunning,
had succeeded in rescuing hundreds of aristocrats from France.
Nine-tenths of the EMIGRES, who were FETED at the English court,
owed their safety to that man and to his league.
Chauvelin had sworn to his colleagues in Paris that he would
discover the identity of that meddlesome Englishman, entice him over
to France, and then. . .Chauvelin drew a deep breath of satisfaction
at the very thought of seeing that enigmatic head falling under the
knife of the guillotine, as easily as that of any other man.
Suddenly there was a great stir on the handsome staircase, all
The Scarlet Pimpernel |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Summer by Edith Wharton: face; worse, Charity observed, than she had ever seen
him; and by that time she had had some experience.
When she asked him how soon she was to start he
answered shortly, "You ain't going," and shut himself
up in the room he called his office; and the next day
the lady who kept the school at Starkfield wrote that
"under the circumstances" she was afraid she could not
make room just then for another pupil.
Charity was disappointed; but she understood. It
wasn't the temptations of Starkfield that had been Mr.
Royall's undoing; it was the thought of losing her. He
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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 At the Mountains of Madness by H. P. Lovecraft: - probably to secure phosphorescence - which the basreliefs could
not make clear to us. The beings moved in the sea partly by swimming
- using the lateral crinoid arms - and partly by wriggling with
the lower tier of tentacles containing the pseudofeet. Occasionally
they accomplished long swoops with the auxiliary use of two or
more sets of their fanlike folding wings. On land they locally
used the pseudofeet, but now and then flew to great heights or
over long distances with their wings. The many slender tentacles
into which the crinoid arms branched were infinitely delicate,
flexible, strong, and accurate in muscular-nervous coordination
- ensuring the utmost skill and dexterity in all artistic and
At the Mountains of Madness |
