| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Adieu by Honore de Balzac: another sight of the phantom.
"She must be beneath that fig-tree," he said, pointing to the foliage
of a tree which rose above the wall to the left of the gate.
"She! who?"
"How can I tell?" replied Monsieur d'Albon. "A strange woman rose up
there, just before me," he said in a low voice; "she seemed to come
from the world of shades rather than from the land of the living. She
is so slender, so light, so filmy, she must be diaphanous. Her face
was as white as milk; her eyes, her clothes, her hair jet black. She
looked at me as she flitted by, and though I may say I'm no coward,
that cold immovable look froze the blood in my veins."
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Phantasmagoria and Other Poems by Lewis Carroll: SHE would have her picture taken.
She came dressed beyond description,
Dressed in jewels and in satin
Far too gorgeous for an empress.
Gracefully she sat down sideways,
With a simper scarcely human,
Holding in her hand a bouquet
Rather larger than a cabbage.
All the while that she was sitting,
Still the lady chattered, chattered,
Like a monkey in the forest.
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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 Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens: poetry. Joe had no business to be going abroad. He had no right
to be able to do it. If he was in adamantine chains, he couldn't.
'I have said good-bye,' said Dolly, 'twice. Take your arm away
directly, Mr Joseph, or I'll call Miggs.'
'I'll not reproach you,' answered Joe, 'it's my fault, no doubt. I
have thought sometimes that you didn't quite despise me, but I was
a fool to think so. Every one must, who has seen the life I have
led--you most of all. God bless you!'
He was gone, actually gone. Dolly waited a little while, thinking
he would return, peeped out at the door, looked up the street and
down as well as the increasing darkness would allow, came in again,
Barnaby Rudge |
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 Underground City by Jules Verne: So reasoned Jack Ryan and his comrades in the Aberfoyle mines.
We have said that the different pits communicated with
each other by means of long subterranean galleries.
Thus there existed beneath the county of Stirling
a vast tract, full of burrows, tunnels, bored with caves,
and perforated with shafts, a subterranean labyrinth,
which might be compared to an enormous ant-hill.
Miners, though belonging to different pits, often met, when going
to or returning from their work. Consequently there was a constant
opportunity of exchanging talk, and circulating the stories
which had their origin in the mine, from one pit to another.
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