| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Chinese Boy and Girl by Isaac Taylor Headland:
By this time the girls were all rested and our little friend
said:
"Seek for gold."
Three or four of the girls gathered up some pebbles,
squatted down in a group and scattered them as they would
a lot of jackstones. Then one drew her finger between two
of the stones and snapped one against the other. If she hit
it the two were taken up and put aside.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne: to imagine the covetousness of the Canadian at the sight of this
savoury game, and whether he did not regret having no gun.
But he did his best to replace the lead by stones, and, after several
fruitless attempts, he succeeded in wounding a magnificent bird.
To say that he risked his life twenty times before reaching
it is but the truth; but he managed so well that the creature
joined the honey-cakes in his bag. We were now obliged to
descend toward the shore, the crest becoming impracticable.
Above us the crater seemed to gape like the mouth of a well.
From this place the sky could be clearly seen, and clouds,
dissipated by the west wind, leaving behind them, even on the summit
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau by Honore de Balzac: "We merchants are not so sharp," said the perfumer. "It would not be
possible to do business if we made so many stipulations."
"Oh, in business, that is very different, especially in perfumery,
where everything fits like a glove," said the old fellow with a sour
smile; "but when you come to letting houses in Paris, nothing is
unimportant. Why, I have a tenant in the Rue Montorgeuil who--"
"Monsieur," said Birotteau, "I am sorry to detain you from your
breakfast: here are the deeds, correct them. I agree to all that you
propose, we will sign them to-morrow; but to-day let us come to an
agreement by word of mouth, for my architect wants to take possession
of the premises in the morning."
Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau |
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 Atheist's Mass by Honore de Balzac: this man was in all the secrets of the human frame; he knew it in
the past and in the future, emphasizing the present.
But did he epitomize all science in his own person as Hippocrates
did and Galen and Aristotle? Did he guide a whole school towards
new worlds? No. Though it is impossible to deny that this
persistent observer of human chemistry possessed that antique
science of the Mages, that is to say, knowledge of the elements
in fusion, the causes of life, life antecedent to life, and what
it must be in its incubation or ever it IS, it must be confessed
that, unfortunately, everything in him was purely personal.
Isolated during his life by his egoism, that egoism is now
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