| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Pocket Diary Found in the Snow by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner: had come into his hands so strangely. His eyes ran more and more
rapidly over the closely written pages, as his interest grew and
grew.
When, half an hour later, he had finished the reading, he paced
restlessly up and down the room, trying to bring order into the
thoughts that rushed through his brain. And one thought came
again and again, and would not be denied in spite of many
improbabilities, and many strange things with which the book was
full; in spite, also, of the varying, uncertain handwriting and
style of the message. This one thought was, "This woman is not
insane."
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Albert Savarus by Honore de Balzac: "She is only a Frenchwoman; I am an Italian, my dear sir!"
Francesca turned away from the parapet, leaving Rodolphe, and went to
the further end of the terrace, whence there is a wide prospect of the
lake. Watching her as she slowly walked away, Rodolphe suspected that
he had wounded her soul, at once so simple and so wise, so proud and
so humble. It turned him cold; he followed Francesca, who signed to
him to leave her to herself. But he did not heed the warning, and
detected her wiping away her tears. Tears! in so strong a nature.
"Francesca," said he, taking her hand, "is there a single regret in
your heart?"
She was silent, disengaged her hand which held her embroidered
Albert Savarus |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf: and his saying straight out before every one, we perish, each alone,
and his remoteness. (He had opened his book.) But what remained
intolerable, she thought, sitting upright, and watching Macalister's
boy tug the hook out of the gills of another fish, was that crass
blindness and tyranny of his which had poisoned her childhood and
raised bitter storms, so that even now she woke in the night trembling
with rage and remembered some command of his; some insolence: "Do
this," "Do that," his dominance: his "Submit to me."
So she said nothing, but looked doggedly and sadly at the shore,
wrapped in its mantle of peace; as if the people there had fallen
asleep, she thought; were free like smoke, were free to come and go
To the Lighthouse |
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 Democracy In America, Volume 1 by Alexis de Toqueville: serf. Inequality was then imposed by force; and after it had
been introduced into the maners of the country it maintained its
own authority, and was sanctioned by the legislation.
Communities have existed which were aristocratic from their
earliest origin, owing to circumstances anterior to that event,
and which became more democratic in each succeeding age. Such
was the destiny of the Romans, and of the barbarians after them.
But a people, having taken its rise in civilization and
democracy, which should gradually establish an inequality of
conditions, until it arrived at inviolable privileges and
exclusive castes, would be a novelty in the world; and nothing
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