| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Paradise Lost by John Milton: Hunger and thirst constraining; drugged as oft,
With hatefullest disrelish writhed their jaws,
With soot and cinders filled; so oft they fell
Into the same illusion, not as Man
Whom they triumphed once lapsed. Thus were they plagued
And worn with famine, long and ceaseless hiss,
Till their lost shape, permitted, they resumed;
Yearly enjoined, some say, to undergo,
This annual humbling certain numbered days,
To dash their pride, and joy, for Man seduced.
However, some tradition they dispersed
Paradise Lost |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Vicar of Tours by Honore de Balzac: things, they cannot avoid them; to them the worst happens.
"Yes, it will be a fine day," replied the canon, after a pause,
apparently issuing from a revery and wishing to conform to the rules
of politeness.
Birotteau, frightened at the length of time which had elapsed between
the question and the answer,--for he had, for the first time in his
life, taken his coffee without uttering a word,--now left the dining-
room where his heart was squeezed as if in a vise. Feeling that the
coffee lay heavy on his stomach, he went to walk in a sad mood among
the narrow, box-edged garden paths which outlined a star in the little
garden. As he turned after making the first round, he saw Mademoiselle
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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 Democracy In America, Volume 1 by Alexis de Toqueville: Legislators ought to strive as much as possible to bring private
individuals, and not States, before the Federal Courts - How the
Americans have succeeded in this - Direct prosecution of private
individuals in the Federal Courts - Indirect prosecution of the
States which violate the laws of the Union - The decrees of the
Supreme Court enervate but do not destroy the provincial laws.
I have shown what the privileges of the Federal courts are,
and it is no less important to point out the manner in which they
are exercised. The irresistible authority of justice in
countries in which the sovereignty in undivided is derived from
the fact that the tribunals of those countries represent the
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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 A Princess of Parms by Edgar Rice Burroughs: At a signal from Dak Kova the doors of two cages were
thrown open and a dozen green Martian females were
driven to the center of the arena. Each was given a
dagger and then, at the far end, a pack of twelve calots,
or wild dogs were loosed upon them.
As the brutes, growling and foaming, rushed upon the almost
defenseless women I turned my head that I might not see the
horrid sight. The yells and laughter of the green horde
bore witness to the excellent quality of the sport and
when I turned back to the arena, as Kantos Kan told me it
was over, I saw three victorious calots, snarling and growling
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