| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Peter Pan by James M. Barrie: frightened at being dead."
He thought of hopping off in a comic sort of way till he was
out of sight of her, and then never going near the spot any more.
They would all have been glad to follow if he had done this.
But there was the arrow. He took it from her heart and faced
his band.
"Whose arrow?" he demanded sternly.
"Mine, Peter," said Tootles on his knees.
"Oh, dastard hand," Peter said, and he raised the arrow to use
it as a dagger.
Tootles did not flinch. He bared his breast. "Strike, Peter,"
Peter Pan |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Deserted Woman by Honore de Balzac: All this time Mme. de Beauseant's husband, the present Marquis (his
father and elder brother having died), enjoyed the soundest health.
There is no better aid to life than a certain knowledge that our
demise would confer a benefit on some fellow-creature. M. de Beauseant
was one of those ironical and wayward beings who, like holders of
life-annuities, wake with an additional sense of relish every morning
to a consciousness of good health. For the rest, he was a man of the
world, somewhat methodical and ceremonious, and a calculator of
consequences, who could make a declaration of love as quietly as a
lackey announces that "Madame is served."
This brief biographical notice of his lordship the Marquis de
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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 Europeans by Henry James: "Enchanted. It has been the proudest day of my life. Never, never have
I been so lionized! I assure you, I was cock of the walk.
My dear sister," said the young man, "nous n'avons qu'a nous tenir;
we shall be great swells!"
Madame Munster looked at him, and her eye exhibited a slight
responsive spark. She touched her lips to a glass of wine,
and then she said, "Describe them. Give me a picture."
Felix drained his own glass. "Well, it 's in the country,
among the meadows and woods; a wild sort of place,
and yet not far from here. Only, such a road, my dear!
Imagine one of the Alpine glaciers reproduced in mud.
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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 Commission in Lunacy by Honore de Balzac: the pretty English round jacket which his brother, Vicomte Camille
d'Espard, still wore. The Count, who for the last six months went no
more to the College Henri IV., was dressed in the style of a young man
enjoying the first pleasures of fashion. His father had not wished to
condemn him to a year's useless study of philosophy; he was trying to
give his knowledge some consistency by the study of transcendental
mathematics. At the same time, the Marquis was having him taught
Eastern languages, the international law of Europe, heraldry, and
history from the original sources, charters, early documents, and
collections of edicts. Camille had lately begun to study rhetoric.
The day when Popinot arranged to go to question M. d'Espard was a
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