| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Recruit by Honore de Balzac: she heard of the terrible executions ordered by the Convention, she
slept in peace, knowing that her sole treasure was in safety, far from
danger, far from scaffolds. She took pleasure in believing that they
had each chosen the wisest course, a course which would save to HIM
both life and fortune.
With this secret comfort in her mind, she was ready to make all the
concessions required by those evil days, and without sacrificing
either her dignity as a woman, or her aristocratic beliefs, she
conciliated the good-will of those about her. Madame de Dey had fully
understood the difficulties that awaited her on coming to Carentan. To
seek to occupy a leading position would be daily defiance to the
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson: sudden reflection, fronted about with an air of defiance; and the
pair stared at each other pretty fixedly for a few seconds. "Now
I shall know you again," said Mr. Utterson. "It may be useful."
"Yes," returned Mr. Hyde, "It is as well we have met; and
apropos, you should have my address." And he gave a number of a
street in Soho.
"Good God!" thought Mr. Utterson, "can he, too, have been
thinking of the will?" But he kept his feelings to himself and
only grunted in acknowledgment of the address.
"And now," said the other, "how did you know me?"
"By description," was the reply.
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Tono Bungay by H. G. Wells: to any one of scientific attainments that in Neat's Foot Oil
derived from the hoofs and horns of beasts, we must necessarily
have a natural skin and hair lubricant."
And we also did admirable things with our next subsidiaries,
"Tono-Bungay Lozenges," and "Tono-Bungay Chocolate." These we
urged upon the public for their extraordinary nutritive and
recuperative value in cases of fatigue and strain. We gave them
posters and illustrated advertisements showing climbers hanging
from marvelously vertical cliffs, cyclist champions upon the
track, mounted messengers engaged in Aix-to-Ghent rides, soldiers
lying out in action under a hot sun. "You can GO for twenty-four
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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 Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table by Oliver Wendell Holmes: I never thought mine was anything, - said the schoolmistress.
How should you know? - said I. - People never hear their own
voices, - any more than they see their own faces. There is not
even a looking-glass for the voice. Of course, there is something
audible to us when we speak; but that something is not our own
voice as it is known to all our acquaintances. I think, if an
image spoke to us in our own tones, we should not know them in the
least. - How pleasant it would be, if in another state of being we
could have shapes like our former selves for playthings, - we
standing outside or inside of them, as we liked, and they being to
us just what we used to be to others!
The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table |
