| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Professor by Charlotte Bronte: remained for me to acquiesce. We proceeded now in silence. The
corridor terminated in a hall, large, lofty, and square; a glass
door on one side showed within a long narrow refectory, with
tables, an armoire, and two lamps; it was empty; large glass
doors, in front, opened on the playground and garden; a broad
staircase ascended spirally on the opposite side; the remaining
wall showed a pair of great folding-doors, now closed, and
admitting: doubtless, to the classes.
Mdlle. Reuter turned her eye laterally on me, to ascertain,
probably, whether I was collected enough to be ushered into her
sanctum sanctorum. I suppose she judged me to be in a tolerable
The Professor |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad: I thought for a moment of pinning them together for greater safety,
but I sat down on the couch, and once there I felt unwilling to rise
and hunt for a pin. I would do it in a moment. I was extremely tired,
in a peculiarly intimate way, by the strain of stealthiness,
by the effort of whispering and the general secrecy of this excitement.
It was three o'clock by now and I had been on my feet since nine,
but I was not sleepy; I could not have gone to sleep. I sat there,
fagged out, looking at the curtains, trying to clear my mind of the confused
sensation of being in two places at once, and greatly bothered by an
exasperating knocking in my head. It was a relief to discover suddenly
that it was not in my head at all, but on the outside of the door.
The Secret Sharer |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Gobseck by Honore de Balzac: than any man in the world. He is a judge of horses, hats, and
pictures. All the women lose their heads over him. He always spends
something like a hundred thousand francs a year, and no creature can
discover that he has an acre of land or a single dividend warrant. The
typical knight errant of our salons, our boudoirs, our boulevards, an
amphibian half-way between a man and a woman--Maxime de Trailles is a
singular being, fit for anything, and good for nothing, quite as
capable of perpetrating a benefit as of planning a crime; sometimes
base, sometimes noble, more often bespattered with mire than
besprinkled with blood, knowing more of anxiety than of remorse, more
concerned with his digestion than with any mental process, shamming
Gobseck |
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 Deserted Woman by Honore de Balzac: small to be worth mention in the history of this passion.
For three years Mme. de Beauseant and M. de Nueil lived in the villa
on the lake of Geneva. They lived quite alone, received no visitors,
caused no talk, rose late, went out together upon the lake, knew, in
short, the happiness of which we all of us dream. It was a simple
little house, with green shutters, and broad balconies shaded with
awnings, a house contrived of set purpose for lovers, with its white
couches, soundless carpets, and fresh hangings, everything within it
reflecting their joy. Every window looked out on some new view of the
lake; in the far distance lay the mountains, fantastic visions of
changing color and evanescent cloud; above them spread the sunny sky,
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