| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Tour Through Eastern Counties of England by Daniel Defoe: the circumference of these few villages named above, besides such
as are kept by accidental lodgers.
This increase of the inhabitants, and the cause of it, I shall
enlarge upon when I come to speak of the like in the counties of
Middlesex, Surrey, &c, where it is the same, only in a much greater
degree. But this I must take notice of here, that this increase
causes those villages to be much pleasanter and more sociable than
formerly, for now people go to them, not for retirement into the
country, but for good company; of which, that I may speak to the
ladies as well as other authors do, there are in these villages,
nay, in all, three or four excepted, excellent conversation, and a
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Deserted Woman by Honore de Balzac: into relief. I am too proud not to endeavor to live like one apart in
the world, a victim of the law through my marriage, man's victim
through my love. If I were not faithful to the position which I have
taken up, then I should deserve all the reproach that is heaped upon
me; I should be lowered in my own eyes. I had not enough lofty social
virtue to remain with a man whom I did not love. I have snapped the
bonds of marriage in spite of the law; it was wrong, it was a crime,
it was anything you like, but for me the bonds meant death. I meant to
live. Perhaps if I had been a mother I could have endured the torture
of a forced marriage of suitability. At eighteen we scarcely know what
is done with us, poor girls that we are! I have broken the laws of the
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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 A Kidnapped Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum: Suddenly a strange thing happened: a rope shot through the moonlight
and a big noose that was in the end of it settled over the arms and
body of Santa Claus and drew tight. Before he could resist or even
cry out he was jerked from the seat of the sleigh and tumbled head
foremost into a snowbank, while the reindeer rushed onward with the
load of toys and carried it quickly out of sight and sound.
Such a surprising experience confused old Santa for a moment, and when
he had collected his senses he found that the wicked Daemons had
pulled him from the snowdrift and bound him tightly with many coils of
the stout rope. And then they carried the kidnapped Santa Claus away
to their mountain, where they thrust the prisoner into a secret cave
A Kidnapped Santa Claus |
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 Collection of Antiquities by Honore de Balzac: a corrective that a man must always behave himself like a gentleman.
Of all this discourse, Victurnien comprehended just so much as
flattered his passions. From the first he saw his old father laughing
with the Chevalier. The two elderly men considered that the pride of a
d'Esgrignon was a sufficient safeguard against anything unbefitting;
as for a dishonorable action, no one in the house imagined that a
d'Esgrignon could be guilty of it. HONOR, the great principle of
Monarchy, was planted firm like a beacon in the hearts of the family;
it lighted up the least action, it kindled the least thought of a
d'Esgrignon. "A d'Esgrignon ought not to permit himself to do such and
such a thing; he bears a name which pledges him to make a future
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