| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Divine Comedy (translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) by Dante Alighieri: And turned the left part of himself about.
"O thou sweet light! with trust in whom I enter
Upon this novel journey, do thou lead us,"
Said he, "as one within here should be led.
Thou warmest the world, thou shinest over it;
If other reason prompt not otherwise,
Thy rays should evermore our leaders be!"
As much as here is counted for a mile,
So much already there had we advanced
In little time, by dint of ready will;
And tow'rds us there were heard to fly, albeit
The Divine Comedy (translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Ten Years Later by Alexandre Dumas: in spite of all the questions addressed by him to the host,
who appeared to know him perfectly well. The musketeer then
made some inquiries concerning the salt-mines, and took the
road to the marshes, leaving the sea on his right, and
penetrating into that vast and desolate plain which
resembles a sea of mud, of which, here and there, a few
crests of salt silver the undulations. Furet walked
admirably, with his little nervous legs, along the foot-wide
causeways which separate the salt-mines. D'Artagnan, aware
of the consequences of a fall, which would result in a cold
bath, allowed him to go as he liked, contenting himself with
Ten Years Later |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz by L. Frank Baum: had fierce eyes and sharp talons and beaks, and the children hoped
none of them would venture into the cavern.
"Well, I declare!" suddenly exclaimed the little Wizard. "What in the
world is this?"
They turned around and found a man standing on the floor in the center
of the cave, who bowed very politely when he saw he had attracted
their attention. He was a very old man, bent nearly double; but the
queerest thing about him was his white hair and beard. These were so
long that they reached to his feet, and both the hair and the beard
were carefully plaited into many braids, and the end of each braid
fastened with a bow of colored ribbon.
Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz |
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 Recruit by Honore de Balzac: billets for the night. The young man walked with a jades step, but
firmly, and his gait seemed to show that he had long been familiar
with military hardships. Though the moon was shining on the meadows
about Carentan, he had noticed heavy clouds on the horizon, and the
fear of being overtaken by a tempest may have hurried his steps, which
were certainly more brisk than his evident lassitude could have
desired. On his back was an almost empty bag, and he held in his hand
a boxwood stick, cut from the tall broad hedges of that shrub, which
is so frequent in Lower Normandy.
This solitary wayfarer entered Carentan, the steeples of which,
touched by the moonlight, had only just appeared to him. His step woke
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