| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Bunner Sisters by Edith Wharton: "Well, ladies, dat clock's all right," he pronounced.
"I'm sure we're very much obliged to you," said Evelina,
throwing a glance at her sister.
"Oh," Ann Eliza murmured, involuntarily answering the
admonition. She selected a key from the bunch that hung at her
waist with her cutting-out scissors, and fitting it into the lock
of the cupboard, brought out the cherry brandy and three old-
fashioned glasses engraved with vine-wreaths.
"It's a very cold night," she said, "and maybe you'd like a
sip of this cordial. It was made a great while ago by our
grandmother."
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from An Old Maid by Honore de Balzac: falling of their blossoms. When the circular deposit of these fallen
petals resembled a layer of snow the owner of the trees might hope for
an abundant supply of cider. While she thus gauged her vats,
Mademoiselle Cormon also attended to the repairs which the winter
necessitated; she ordered the digging of her flower-beds and her
vegetable garden, from which she supplied her table. Every season had
its own business. Mademoiselle always gave a dinner of farewell to her
intimate friends the day before her departure, although she was
certain to see them again within three weeks. It was always a piece of
news which echoed through Alencon when Mademoiselle Cormon departed.
All her visitors, especially those who had missed a visit, came to bid
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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 Sanitary and Social Lectures by Charles Kingsley: I know that they, too, can be used in His service, and brought to
bear on the true emancipation of woman--her emancipation, not from
man (as some foolish persons fancy), but from the devil, "the
slanderer and divider" who divides her from man, and makes her
live a life-long tragedy, which goes on in more cottages than in
palaces--a vie e part, a vie incomprise--a life made up half of
ill-usage, half of unnecessary, self-willed, self-conceited
martyrdom, instead of being (as God intended) half of the human
universe, a helpmeet for man, and the one bright spot which makes
this world endurable. Towards making her that, and so realising
the primeval mission by every cottage hearth, each of you can do
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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 Parmenides by Plato: infinite. But the parts are parts of a whole, and the whole is their
containing limit, and the one is therefore limited as well as infinite in
number; and that which is a whole has beginning, middle, and end, and a
middle is equidistant from the extremes; and one is therefore of a certain
figure, round or straight, or a combination of the two, and being a whole
includes all the parts which are the whole, and is therefore self-
contained. But then, again, the whole is not in the parts, whether all or
some. Not in all, because, if in all, also in one; for, if wanting in any
one, how in all?--not in some, because the greater would then be contained
in the less. But if not in all, nor in any, nor in some, either nowhere or
in other. And if nowhere, nothing; therefore in other. The one as a
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