| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau by Honore de Balzac: sleeping draught, which he took to be made up, and then returned to
spend the evening with the family. Aided by Cesarine he induced her
father to drink with them. The narcotic soon put Cesar to sleep, and
when he woke up, fourteen hours later, he was in Pillerault's bedroom,
Rue des Bourdonnais, fairly imprisoned by the old man, who was
sleeping himself on a cot-bed in the salon.
When Constance heard the coach containing Pillerault and Cesar roll
away from the door, her courage deserted her. Our powers are often
stimulated by the necessity of upholding some being feebler than
ourselves. The poor woman wept to find herself alone in her home as
she would have wept for Cesar dead.
Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Cratylus by Plato: must be just what they are, or not be at all; for example, the number ten
at once becomes other than ten if a unit be added or subtracted, and so of
any other number: but this does not apply to that which is qualitative or
to anything which is represented under an image. I should say rather that
the image, if expressing in every point the entire reality, would no longer
be an image. Let us suppose the existence of two objects: one of them
shall be Cratylus, and the other the image of Cratylus; and we will
suppose, further, that some God makes not only a representation such as a
painter would make of your outward form and colour, but also creates an
inward organization like yours, having the same warmth and softness; and
into this infuses motion, and soul, and mind, such as you have, and in a
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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 Cruise of the Jasper B. by Don Marquis: see the man in the process of building up a criminal organization
of his own, with ramifications of the most surprising nature.
"This man," said Dr. Farnsworth, with a shudder, "actually has
the ambition to be the head of nothing less than a crime trust."
"It seems to be something more than an ambition," said Cleggett.
"It seems to be almost an accomplished fact."
"Ugh!" said Lady Agatha, with a gesture of disgust, "he's like a
great horrid spider spinning webs!"
Interested in anarchy only on its practical side, as the paid
dynamiter of the inner circle of radicals, Logan Black in his
diary jeered at and mocked the cause he served. And more than
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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 Dream Life and Real Life by Olive Schreiner: The older woman stood looking into the fire; then slowly and measuredly she
said, "There are times, in life, when everything seems dark, when the brain
reels, and we cannot see that there is anything but death. But, if we wait
long enough, after long, long years, calm comes. It may be we cannot say
it was well; but we are contented, we accept the past. The struggle is
ended. That day may come for you, perhaps sooner than you think." She
spoke slowly and with difficulty.
"No, it can never come for me. If once I have loved a thing, I love it for
ever. I can never forget."
"Love is not the only end in life. There are other things to live for."
"Oh, yes, for you! To me love is everything!"
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