| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Catherine de Medici by Honore de Balzac: courtyard of the chateau de Tours during the conference between
Catherine and Henri IV., singing, as he did so, a song in which the
queen was grossly insulted. Henri IV. drew his sword to go out and
kill the man; but Catherine stopped him and contented herself with
calling from the window to her insulter:--
"Eh! but it was Catherine who gave you the goose."
Though the executions at Amboise were attributed to Catherine, and
though the Calvinists made her responsible for all the inevitable
evils of that struggle, it was with her as it was, later, with
Robespierre, who is still waiting to be justly judged. Catherine was,
moreover, rightly punished for her preference for the Duc d'Anjou, to
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Captain Stormfield by Mark Twain: thousand worlds like ours all swearing at once. Well, I never
heard the like of it before.
We roared and thundered along side by side, both doing our level
best, because I'd never struck a comet before that could lay over
me, and so I was bound to beat this one or break something. I
judged I had some reputation in space, and I calculated to keep it.
I noticed I wasn't gaining as fast, now, as I was before, but still
I was gaining. There was a power of excitement on board the comet.
Upwards of a hundred billion passengers swarmed up from below and
rushed to the side and begun to bet on the race. Of course this
careened her and damaged her speed. My, but wasn't the mate mad!
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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 Underdogs by Mariano Azuela: milla whispered back.
War Paint turned purple, her cheeks swelled. Without
a word she went out to get her horse that Blondie was
saddling.
IX
A whirlwind of dust, scorching down the road, sud-
denly broke into violent diffuse masses; and Demetrio's
army emerged, a chaos of horses, broad chests, tangled
manes, dilated nostrils, oval, wide eyes, hoofs flying in the
air, legs stiffened from endless galloping; and of men
with bronze faces, ivory teeth, and flashing eyes, their
The Underdogs |
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 Philosophy 4 by Owen Wister: Similar to your dislike of water as a beverage. That is subjective in
you. But here comes the twist. I can think of my own anger and judge
it, just as if it were an outside thing, like a table. I can compare it
with itself on different mornings or with other people's anger. And I
trust that you can do the same with your thirst."
"Yes," said Billy; "I recognize that it is greater at times and less at
others."
"Very well, There you are. Duality of the ego."
"Subject and object," said Billy. "Perfectly true, and very queer when
you try to think of it. Wonder how far it goes? Of course, one can
explain the body's being an object to the brain inside it. That's mind
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