| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Ferragus by Honore de Balzac: hand to the man, who had just replaced the bandage.
"Yes, to-night," said the other, pressing his hand cordially. "I wish
I could see you past your sufferings."
"To-morrow Monsieur de Funcal's papers will be delivered to us, and
Henri Bourignard will be dead forever," said Ferragus. "Those fatal
marks which have cost us so dear no longer exist. I shall become once
more a social being, a man among men, and more of a man than the
sailor whom the fishes are eating. God knows it is not for my own sake
I have made myself a Portuguese count!"
"Poor Gratien!--you, the wisest of us all, our beloved brother, the
Benjamin of the band; as you very well know."
Ferragus |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Tanach: Ezekiel 32: 18 'Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt, and cast them down, even her, with the daughters of the mighty nations, unto the nether parts of the earth, with them that go down into the pit.
Ezekiel 32: 19 Whom dost thou pass in beauty? Go down, and be thou laid with the uncircumcised.
Ezekiel 32: 20 They shall fall in the midst of them that are slain by the sword; she is delivered to the sword; draw her down and all her multitudes.
Ezekiel 32: 21 The strong among the mighty shall speak of him out of the midst of the nether-world with them that helped him; they are gone down, they lie still, even the uncircumcised, slain by the sword.
Ezekiel 32: 22 Asshur is there and all her company; their graves are round about them; all of them slain, fallen by the sword;
Ezekiel 32: 23 whose graves are set in the uttermost parts of the pit, and her company is round about her grave; all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who caused terror in the land of the living. Ezekiel 32: 24 There is Elam and all her multitude round about her grave; all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who are gone down uncircumcised into the nether parts of the earth, who caused their terror in the land of the living; yet have they borne their shame with them that go down to the pit.
Ezekiel 32: 25 They have set her a bed in the midst of the slain with all her multitude; her graves are round about them; all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword; because their terror was caus 
The Tanach |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom by William and Ellen Craft: from Savannah stepped in, somewhat the worse for
brandy; he shook hands with my master, and pre-
tended to know all about him. He said, "I know
his kin (friends) like a book;" and as the officer
was known in Charleston, and was going to stop
there with friends, the recognition was very much
in my master's favor.
The captain of the steamer, a good-looking, jovial
fellow, seeing that the gentleman appeared to know
my master, and perhaps not wishing to lose us as
passengers, said in an off-hand sailor-like manner,
Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom |
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 Schoolmistress and Other Stories by Anton Chekhov: side, and could not go to sleep. He felt uncanny.
"We have a great deal of money," he said to his wife; "we must
look out or thieves will be breaking in. You had better go and
look with a candle."
He did not sleep all night, and kept getting up to see if his box
was all right. In the morning he had to go to church to matins.
In church the same honor is done to rich and poor alike. When
Fyodor was poor he used to pray in church like this: "God,
forgive me, a sinner!" He said the same thing now though he had
become rich. What difference was there? And after death Fyodor
rich would not be buried in gold, not in diamonds, but in the
The Schoolmistress and Other Stories |
