| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Girl with the Golden Eyes by Honore de Balzac: money and power--are primarily directed. Man hardens himself thus: he
uses woman in order that she may not make use of him.
At this moment, then, De Marsay perceived that he had been fooled by
the girl of the golden eyes, seeing, as he did, in perspective, all
that night of which the delights had been poured upon him by degrees
until they had ended by flooding him in torrents. He could read, at
last, that page in effect so brilliant, divine its hidden meaning. The
purely physical innocence of Paquita, the bewilderment of her joy,
certain words, obscure at first, but now clear, which had escaped her
in the midst of that joy, all proved to him that he had posed for
another person. As no social corruption was unknown to him, as he
The Girl with the Golden Eyes |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tales of the Klondyke by Jack London: being lower, was overrun. Then, without effort, the white flood
started down-stream. But the sound increased with the momentum,
and soon the whole island was shaking and quivering with the shock
of the grinding bergs. Under pressure, the mighty cakes, weighing
hundreds of tons, were shot into the air like peas. The frigid
anarchy increased its riot, and the men had to shout into one
another's ears to be heard. Occasionally the racket from the back
channel could be heard above the tumult. The island shuddered
with the impact of an enormous cake which drove in squarely upon
its point. It ripped a score of pines out by the roots, then
swinging around and over, lifted its muddy base from the bottom of
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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 The Silverado Squatters by Robert Louis Stevenson: setting past the Toll House was too strong; and there lay our
little platform, in the arms of the deluge, but still
enjoying its unbroken sunshine. About eleven, however, thin
spray came flying over the friendly buttress, and I began to
think the fog had hunted out its Jonah after all. But it was
the last effort. The wind veered while we were at dinner,
and began to blow squally from the mountain summit; and by
half-past one, all that world of sea-fogs was utterly routed
and flying here and there into the south in little rags of
cloud. And instead of a lone sea-beach, we found ourselves
once more inhabiting a high mountainside, with the clear
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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 Lock and Key Library by Julian Hawthorne, Ed.: tides through the bounding pulses of the youthful company; again
the flying feet of the dancers began to respond to the measures;
again the mounting spirit of delight began to fill the sails of the
hurrying night with steady inspiration. All went happily. Already
had one dance finished; some were pacing up and down, leaning on
the arms of their partners; some were reposing from their
exertions; when--O heavens! what a shriek! what a gathering tumult!
Every eye was bent toward the doors--every eye strained forward to
discover what was passing. But there, every moment, less and less
could be seen, for the gathering crowd more and more intercepted
the view;--so much the more was the ear at leisure for the shrieks
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