| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad: the disinterred body of Mr. Kurtz saying, `My Intended.'
You would have perceived directly then how completely she
was out of it. And the lofty frontal bone of Mr. Kurtz!
They say the hair goes on growing sometimes, but this--
ah--specimen, was impressively bald. The wilderness had
patted him on the head, and, behold, it was like a ball--
an ivory ball; it had caressed him, and--lo!--he had withered;
it had taken him, loved him, embraced him, got into his veins,
consumed his flesh, and sealed his soul to its own by the
inconceivable ceremonies of some devilish initiation. He was
its spoiled and pampered favourite. Ivory? I should think so.
Heart of Darkness |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Stories From the Old Attic by Robert Harris: human, quite an odd and unexpected situation arose. It had become
so unusual to see, for example, a woman wearing glasses or a man
with wind-blown hair that such a detail now took on a natural appeal
to some of the other humans.
One bright morning at breakfast in a fancy resort dining room, a
human female, almost as lovely as a humakin, sat chatting with a
humakin male who had condescended to sit with her. Suddenly she
inadvertently spilled a glass of tomato juice onto her white tennis
dress. While her humakin companion predictably stood up and stared
at her with horror, across the room a human male who had just
witnessed the event was so filled with ardor and longing that he
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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 Maitre Cornelius by Honore de Balzac: woman with a fresh face and pretty feet to exhibit, who was not
determined to see the victim. When Georges issued from the house, led
by one of the provost's guard, who, after he had mounted his horse,
kept the strong leathern thong that bound the prisoner tightly twisted
round his arm, a horrible uproar arose. Whether the populace merely
wished to see this new victim, or whether it intended to rescue him,
certain it is that those behind pressed those in front upon the little
squad of cavalry posted around the Malemaison. At this moment,
Cornelius, aided by his sister, closed the door, and slammed the iron
shutters with the violence of panic terror. Tristan, who was not
accustomed to respect the populace of those days (inasmuch as they
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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 Ursula by Honore de Balzac: Ursula sprang up as if the last trumpet had sounded in her ears. She
gave a cry of terror; her eyes, wide open, gazed at the old man with
awful fixity.
"Who are you, godfather? From whom do you get such power?" she asked,
imagining that in his desire to deny God he had made some compact with
the devil.
"What seeds did you plant yesterday in the garden?"
"Mignonette, sweet-peas, balsams--"
"And the last were larkspur?"
She fell on her knees.
"Do not terrify me!" she exclaimed. "Oh you must have been here--you
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