| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Eve and David by Honore de Balzac: By the partition wall of this kitchen, as it were, David had set up a
little furnace with a copper pan, ostensibly to save the cost of fuel
over the recasting of his rollers, though the moulds had not been used
twice, and hung there rusting upon the wall. Nor was this all; a solid
oak door had been put in by his orders, and the walls were lined with
sheet-iron; he even replaced the dirty window sash by panes of ribbed
glass, so that no one without could watch him at his work.
When Eve began to speak about the future, he looked uneasily at her,
and cut her short at the first word by saying, "I know all that you
must think, child, when you see that the workshop is left to itself,
and that I am dead, as it were, to all business interests; but see,"
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Sanitary and Social Lectures by Charles Kingsley: highest? And ought a man, in such a piecemeal, foolish, greedy,
sinful world as this is, and always has been, to be anything but
discontented? If he thinks that things are going all right, must
he not have a most beggarly conception of what going right means?
And if things are not going right, can it be anything but good for
him to see that they are not going right? Can truth and fact harm
any human being? I shall not believe so, as long as I have a
Bible wherein to believe. For my part, I should like to make
every man, woman, and child whom I meet discontented with
themselves, even as I am discontented with myself. I should like
to awaken in them, about their physical, their intellectual, their
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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 Collection of Beatrix Potter by Beatrix Potter: they did not wake up.
MR. McGREGOR tied up
the sack and left it on
the wall.
He went to put away the
mowing machine.
WHILE he was gone, Mrs.
Flopsy Bunny (who
had remained at home) came
across the field.
She looked suspiciously at
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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 The Ball at Sceaux by Honore de Balzac: other inquiries.
"No, monsieur."
"What, you pay for all you have?"
"Punctually; otherwise we should lose our credit, and every sort of
respect."
"But at least you have more than one mistress? Ah, you blush, comrade!
Well, manners have changed. All these notions of lawful order,
Kantism, and liberty have spoilt the young men. You have no Guimard
now, no Duthe, no creditors--and you know nothing of heraldry; why, my
dear young friend, you are not fully fledged. The man who does not sow
his wild oats in the spring sows them in the winter. If I have but
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