| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Phaedrus by Plato: Because the growing of wings (Or, reading pterothoiton, 'the movement of
wings.') is a necessity to him.'
You may believe this, but not unless you like. At any rate the loves of
lovers and their causes are such as I have described.
Now the lover who is taken to be the attendant of Zeus is better able to
bear the winged god, and can endure a heavier burden; but the attendants
and companions of Ares, when under the influence of love, if they fancy
that they have been at all wronged, are ready to kill and put an end to
themselves and their beloved. And he who follows in the train of any other
god, while he is unspoiled and the impression lasts, honours and imitates
him, as far as he is able; and after the manner of his God he behaves in
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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 Europeans by Henry James: "That 's a very nice thing to do," he said, "giving them the little house.
You will have treated them handsomely, and, whatever happens, you will
be glad of it." Mr. Wentworth was liberal, and he knew he was liberal.
It gave him pleasure to know it, to feel it, to see it recorded;
and this pleasure is the only palpable form of self-indulgence with
which the narrator of these incidents will be able to charge him.
"A three days' visit at most, over there, is all I should
have found possible," Madame Munster remarked to her brother,
after they had taken possession of the little white house.
"It would have been too intime--decidedly too intime.
Breakfast, dinner, and tea en famille--it would have been the end
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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 Albert Savarus by Honore de Balzac: to overwhelm her with perennial remorse. Rosalie gave herself up to
the most bewildering elegance and vanities in order to face the
Duchess on an equal footing.
They first met at a ball given annually after 1830 for the benefit of
the pensioners on the old Civil List. A young man, prompted by
Rosalie, pointed her out to the Duchess, saying:
"There is a very remarkable young person, a strong-minded young lady
too! She drove a clever man into a monastery--the Grand Chartreuse--a
man of immense capabilities, Albert de Savarus, whose career she
wrecked. She is Mademoiselle de Watteville, the famous Besancon
heiress----"
Albert Savarus |
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 Exiles by Honore de Balzac: judgment might perhaps suspect me.
Doctor Sigier was a tall man in the prime of life. His face, rescued
from oblivion by the archives of the University, had singular
analogies with that of Mirabeau. It was stamped with the seal of
fierce, swift, and terrible eloquence. But the Doctor bore on his brow
the expression of religious faith that his modern double had not. His
voice, too, was of persuasive sweetness, with a clear and pleasing
ring in it.
At this moment the daylight, that was stintingly diffused through the
small, heavily-leaded window-panes, tinted the assembly with
capricious tones and powerful contrasts from the chequered light and
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