| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen: or some footman in dishabille sneaked off. Yet this was
an abbey! How inexpressibly different in these domestic
arrangements from such as she had read about--from
abbeys and castles, in which, though certainly larger
than Northanger, all the dirty work of the house was
to be done by two pair of female hands at the utmost.
How they could get through it all had often amazed Mrs. Allen;
and, when Catherine saw what was necessary here, she began
to be amazed herself.
They returned to the hall, that the chief staircase
might be ascended, and the beauty of its wood, and ornaments
Northanger Abbey |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from King James Bible: weary. So he died.
JDG 4:22 And, behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet
him, and said unto him, Come, and I will shew thee the man whom thou
seekest. And when he came into her tent, behold, Sisera lay dead, and
the nail was in his temples.
JDG 4:23 So God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the
children of Israel.
JDG 4:24 And the hand of the children of Israel prospered, and
prevailed against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed
Jabin king of Canaan.
JDG 5:1 Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day,
King James Bible |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Distinguished Provincial at Paris by Honore de Balzac: "Mme. la Marquise says that all the wrong is on my side," said Lucien;
"so surely it rests with her cousin, does it not, to decide whether
she will meet me?"
"Put an end to those ridiculous attacks, which only couple her name
with the name of a man for whom she does not care at all, and you will
soon sign a treaty of peace. You thought that she had used you ill, I
am told, but I myself have seen her in sadness because you had
forsaken her. Is it true that she left the provinces on your account?"
Lucien smiled; he did not venture to make any other reply.
"Oh! how could you doubt the woman who made such sacrifices for you?
Beautiful and intellectual as she is, she deserves besides to be loved
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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 War and the Future by H. G. Wells: murders, the freedom of seas and land alike from piracy, the
evacuation of all Poland including Posen and Cracow, and the
guarantees for the future peace of Europe. The machine will be
perhaps as big as a destroyer and more heavily armed and
equipped. It will swim over and through the soil at a pace of
ten or twelve miles an hour. In front of it will be corn, land,
neat woods, orchards, pasture, gardens, villages and towns. It
will advance upon its belly with a swaying motion, devouring the
ground beneath it. Behind it masses of soil and rock, lumps of
turf, splintered wood, bits of houses, occasional streaks of red,
will drop from its track, and it will leave a wake, six or seven
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