| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Herodias by Gustave Flaubert: floated in the air; presently it lifted, and the shores of the Dead
Sea became visible. The sun, rising behind Machaerus, spread a rosy
flush over the sky, lighting up the stony shores, the hills, and the
desert, and illuming the distant mountains of Judea, rugged and grey
in the early dawn. En-gedi, the central point of the group, threw a
deep black shadow; Hebron, in the background, was round-topped like a
dome; Eschol had her pomegranates, Sorek her vineyards, Carmel her
fields of sesame; and the tower of Antonia, with its enormous cube,
dominated Jerusalem. The tetrarch turned his gaze from it to
contemplate the palms of Jericho on his right; and his thoughts dwelt
upon other cities of his beloved Galilee,--Capernaum, Endor, Nazareth,
Herodias |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Girl with the Golden Eyes by Honore de Balzac: animals who fall upon their enemy in their rage, do it to death, and
seem in the tranquillity of victory to have forgotten it. There are
others who prowl around their victim, who guard it in fear lest it
should be taken away from them, and who, like the Achilles of Homer,
drag their enemy by the feet nine times round the walls of Troy. The
Marquise was like that. She did not see Henri. In the first place, she
was too secure of her solitude to be afraid of witnesses; and,
secondly, she was too intoxicated with warm blood, too excited with
the fray, too exalted, to take notice of the whole of Paris, if Paris
had formed a circle round her. A thunderbolt would not have disturbed
her. She had not even heard Paquita's last sigh, and believed that the
The Girl with the Golden Eyes |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Tom Grogan by F. Hopkinson Smith: Jennie's little feet till they reached the topmost round, holding
on to her skirts so that she should not fall. Above their heads
the branches twined and interlaced, shedding their sweetest
blossoms over their happy upturned faces. The old man's eyes
lightened as he watched them for some moments; then, turning to
Tom, his voice full of tenderness, he said:--
"Carl's a foine lad, Mary; ye'll do no better for Jinnie."
Tom did not answer; her eyes were on the cedars where the crows
were flying, black silhouettes against the yellow sky.
"Did I shtop ye an' break yer heart whin ye wint off wid yer own
Tom? What wuz he but an honest lad thet loved ye, an' he wid not
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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 Hermione's Little Group of Serious Thinkers by Don Marquis: We took up economics not long ago -- Little
Group of Serious Thinkers, you know -- and gave
an entire evening to it.
It's wonderful; simply WONDERFUL!
Without economics, you know, there couldn't be
any Civilization.
That's a thought that should give one pause,
isn't it?
Although, of course, this war may destroy civili-
zation entirely.
If I thought it was likely to do that I would join
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