| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Daughter of Eve by Honore de Balzac: When, in his capacity as enemy to the new dynasty, Raoul was
introduced in the salon of Madame de Montcornet, his apparent
grandeurs were flourishing. He was accepted as the political critic of
the de Marsays, the Rastignacs, and the Roche-Hugons, who had stepped
into power. Emile Blondet, the victim of incurable hesitation and of
his innate repugnance to any action that concerned only himself,
continued his trade of scoffer, took sides with no one, and kept well
with all. He was friendly with Raoul, friendly with Rastignac,
friendly with Montcornet.
"You are a political triangle," said de Marsay, laughing, when they
met at the Opera. "That geometric form, my dear fellow, belongs only
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Woman and Labour by Olive Schreiner: the Hindus' supposed general incapacity for sport, it is possible for an
individual Hindu to become the noted batsman of his age; so, also, there is
no need to legislate that women should be restricted in her choice of
fields of labour; for the organic incapacity of the individual, if it
exist, will legislate far more powerfully than any artificial, legal, or
social obstruction can do; and it may be that the one individual in ten
thousand who selects a field not generally sought by his fellows will
enrich humanity by the result of an especial genius. Allowing all to start
from the one point in the world of intellectual culture and labour, with
our ancient Mother Nature sitting as umpire, distributing the prizes and
scratching from the lists the incompetent, is all we demand, but we demand
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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 Across The Plains by Robert Louis Stevenson: landed in the harbour underneath. But sure there was never seen a
more decayed grandee; sure there was never a duke welcomed from a
stranger place of exile. Half-way between Orkney and Shetland,
there lies a certain isle; on the one hand the Atlantic, on the
other the North Sea, bombard its pillared cliffs; sore-eyed, short-
living, inbred fishers and their families herd in its few huts; in
the graveyard pieces of wreck-wood stand for monuments; there is
nowhere a more inhospitable spot. BELLE-ISLE-EN-MER - Fair-Isle-
at-Sea - that is a name that has always rung in my mind's ear like
music; but the only "Fair Isle" on which I ever set my foot, was
this unhomely, rugged turret-top of submarine sierras. Here, when
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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 Weir of Hermiston by Robert Louis Stevenson: ye to ca' me out of it. If I canna get love, I'll have respect, Mr.
Weir. I'm come of decent people, and I'll have respect. What have I
done that ye should lightly me? What have I done? What have I done?
O, what have I done?" and her voice rose upon the third repetition. "I
thocht - I thocht - I thocht I was sae happy!" and the first sob broke
from her like the paroxysm of some mortal sickness.
Archie ran to her. He took the poor child in his arms, and she nestled
to his breast as to a mother's, and clasped him in hands that were
strong like vices. He felt her whole body shaken by the throes of
distress, and had pity upon her beyond speech. Pity, and at the same
time a bewildered fear of this explosive engine in his arms, whose works
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