| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne: The two mules acknowledged the notes by a mutual lash of their tails; but
it went no further--'Twill answer by an' by, said the novice.
Abbess,.....) Bou. bou. bou. bou. bou. bou.
Margarita,..) ---ger, ger, ger, ger, ger, ger.
Quicker still, cried Margarita. Fou, fou, fou, fou, fou, fou, fou, fou,
fou.
Quicker still, cried Margarita. Bou, bou, bou, bou, bou, bou, bou, bou,
bou.
Quicker still--God preserve me; said the abbess--They do not understand us,
cried Margarita--But the Devil does, said the abbess of Andouillets.
Chapter 4.VII.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Second Home by Honore de Balzac: scruples, but the barbarous philoprogenitiveness of the husband.
Granville, by insensible degrees, overdone with work, bereft of
conjugal consolations, and weary of a world in which he wandered
alone, by the time he was two-and-thirty had sunk into the Slough of
Despond. He hated life. Having too lofty a notion of the
responsibilities imposed on him by his position to set the example of
a dissipated life, he tried to deaden feeling by hard study, and began
a great book on Law.
But he was not allowed to enjoy the monastic peace he had hoped for.
When the celestial Angelique saw him desert worldly society to work at
home with such regularity, she tried to convert him. It had been a
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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 In a German Pension by Katherine Mansfield: the others got up for school." She stood a moment quite silently, hearing
his heavy steps on the stone passage, then the gravel walk, and finally the
slam of the front gate.
"Another baby! Hasn't she finished having them YET?" thought the Child.
"Two babies getting eye teeth--two babies to get up for in the night--two
babies to carry about and wash their little piggy clothes!" She looked
with horror at the one in her arms, who, seeming to understand the
contemptuous loathing of her tired glance, doubled his fists, stiffened his
body, and began violently screaming.
"Ts--ts--ts." She laid him on the settle and went back to her floor-
washing. He never ceased crying for a moment, but she got quite used to it
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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 Venus and Adonis by William Shakespeare: Over one shoulder doth she hang her head,
Dumbly she passions, franticly she doteth;
She thinks he could not die, he is not dead: 1060
Her voice is stopp'd, her joints forget to bow,
Her eyes are mad that they have wept till now.
Upon his hurt she looks so steadfastly,
That her sight dazzling makes the wound seem three;
And then she reprehends her mangling eye, 1065
That makes more gashes where no breach should be:
His face seems twain, each several limb is doubled;
For oft the eye mistakes, the brain being troubled.
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