| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Two Poets by Honore de Balzac: the Hotel de Bargeton. The inhabitant of L'Houmeau beheld the grandeur
of that miniature Louvre, the glory of the Angoumoisin Hotel de
Rambouillet, shining at a solar distance; and yet, within it there was
gathered together all the direst intellectual poverty, all the decayed
gentility from twenty leagues round about.
Political opinion expanded itself in wordy commonplaces vociferated
with emphasis; the Quotidienne was comparatively Laodicean in its
loyalty, and Louis XVIII. a Jacobin. The women, for the most part,
were awkward, silly, insipid, and ill dressed; there was always
something amiss that spoiled the whole; nothing in them was complete,
toilette or talk, flesh or spirit. But for his designs on Mme. de
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Z. Marcas by Honore de Balzac: crushed by the necessity of earning his daily bread, which hindered
him from gaining ground, in despair at the influence exerted by money
over mind, and given over to dire poverty, buried himself in a garret,
to make thirty sous a day, the sum strictly answering to his needs.
Meditation had leveled a desert all round him. He read the papers to
be informed of what was going on. Pozzo di Borgo had once lived like
this for some time.
Marcas, no doubt, was planning a serious attack, accustoming himself
to dissimulation, and punishing himself for his blunders by
Pythagorean muteness. But he did not tell us the reasons for his
conduct.
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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 Breaking Point by Mary Roberts Rinehart: business had been extraordinary. He consulted his watch and then
picked up an evening paper. A few moments later he found himself
reading over and over a small notice inserted among the personals.
"Personal: Jean Melis, who was in Norada, Wyoming, during the
early fall of 1911 please communicate with L 22, this office."
The orchestra was still playing outside; the silly, giggling crowds
were moving back to their seats, and somewhere Jean Melis, or the
friends of Jean Melis, who would tell him of it, were reading that
message.
He got his hat and went out, forgetful of the neat car at the curb,
of the supper engagement, of the night's business, and wandered
The Breaking Point |
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 Master of the World by Jules Verne: have been helpless without the guidance of Wells. Soon we reached the
farther border of the woods; and before us stretched the banks of
Black Rock Creek.
All was silent; all seemed deserted. We could advance without risk.
If the "Terror" was there, she had cast anchor behind the rocks. But
was she there? That was the momentous question! As we approached the
denouement of this exciting affair, my heart was in my throat.
Wells motioned to us to advance. The sand of the shore crunched
beneath our steps. The two hundred feet between us and the mouth of
the Creek were crossed softly, and a few minutes sufficed to bring us
to the rocks at the edge of the lake.
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