| 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: you my life. To-day I cannot."
They continued their way in silence. When the colonel's pain seemed
soothed, the marquis resumed his fatigue; and with the instinct, or
rather the will, of a wearied man his eye took in the very depths of
the forest; he questioned the tree-tops and examined the branching
paths, hoping to discover some dwelling where he could ask
hospitality. Arriving at a cross-ways, he thought he noticed a slight
smoke rising among the trees; he stopped, looked more attentively, and
saw, in the midst of a vast copse, the dark-green branches of several
pine-trees.
"A house! a house!" he cried, with the joy the sailor feels in crying
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Christ in Flanders by Honore de Balzac: shoulders, her eyes glowed, a bright mist clung about her, a ring of
gold hovered above her head, she shook the flaming blade of a sword
towards the spaces of heaven.
"See and believe!" she cried.
And suddenly I saw, afar off, many thousands of cathedrals like the
one that I had just quitted; but these were covered with pictures and
with frescoes, and I heard them echo with entrancing music. Myriads of
human creatures flocked to these great buildings, swarming about them
like ants on an ant-heap. Some were eager to rescue books from
oblivion or to copy manuscripts, others were helping the poor, but
nearly all were studying. Up above this countless multitude rose giant
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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 Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell: any man she had not known from childhood. Secretly she was very
sorry for him, a feeling which would have amused him had he been
aware of it. She was certain that some romantic sorrow had
blighted his life and made him hard and bitter, and she felt that
what he needed was the love of a good woman. In all her sheltered
life she had never seen evil and could scarcely credit its
existence, and when gossip whispered things about Rhett and the
girl in Charleston she was shocked and unbelieving. And, instead
of turning her against him, it only made her more timidly gracious
toward him because of her indignation at what she fancied was a
gross injustice done him.
Gone With the Wind |
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 Pupil by Henry James: that went, how the great change had come, the dreadful bolt had
fallen, and how they would now all have to turn themselves about.
Therefore cruel as it was to them to part with their darling she
must look to him to carry a little further the influence he had so
fortunately acquired with the boy - to induce his young charge to
follow him into some modest retreat. They depended on him - that
was the fact - to take their delightful child temporarily under his
protection; it would leave Mr. Moreen and herself so much more free
to give the proper attention (too little, alas! had been given) to
the readjustment of their affairs.
"We trust you - we feel we CAN," said Mrs. Moreen, slowly rubbing
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