| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Domestic Peace by Honore de Balzac: malcontents of the Faubourg Saint-Germain chose to say--it is certain
that men and women alike flung themselves into a life of pleasure with
an intrepidity which seemed to forbode the end of the world. But there
was at that time another cause for such license. The infatuation of
women for the military became a frenzy, and was too consonant to the
Emperor's views for him to try to check it. The frequent calls to
arms, which gave every treaty concluded between Napoleon and the rest
of Europe the character of an armistice, left every passion open to a
termination as sudden as the decisions of the Commander-in-chief of
all these busbys, pelisses, and aiguillettes, which so fascinated the
fair sex. Hearts were as nomadic as the regiments. Between the first
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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 Return of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs: grotesque bird carved from the solid rock of the monoliths.
As the ape-man and his companions stood gazing in varying
degrees of wonderment at this ancient city in the midst
of savage Africa, several of them became aware of
movement within the structure at which they were looking.
Dim, shadowy shapes appeared to be moving about in the
semi-darkness of the interior. There was nothing tangible
that the eye could grasp--only an uncanny suggestion of life
where it seemed that there should be no life, for living
things seemed out of place in this weird, dead city of the
long-dead past.
The Return of Tarzan |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald: any trouble."
"What day would suit you?"
"What day would suit YOU?" he corrected me quickly. "I don't want to put
you to any trouble, you see."
"How about the day after to-morrow?" He considered for a moment. Then,
with reluctance:
"I want to get the grass cut," he said.
We both looked at the grass--there was a sharp line where my ragged lawn
ended and the darker, well-kept expanse of his began. I suspected that
he meant my grass.
"There's another little thing," he said uncertainly, and hesitated.
The Great Gatsby |
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 Tattine by Ruth Ogden [Mrs. Charles W. Ide]: direction. When they reached her they considerately came to a sudden stop,
else there is no doubt whatever but she would have been tumbled over.
"Well, you are a team," laughed Tattine. and they laughed back, "Yes, we know
we are," and sat down on the step on either side of her. Of course, that would
have been a remarkable thing for some teams to do, but not for this one, for,
as you can guess, they were just two little people, Mabel and Rudolph, but
they were a perfect team all the same; everybody said so, and what everybody
meant was this--that whatever Rudolph "was up to," Mabel was "up to" also, and
vice versa. They traveled together finely, right "up on the bit" all the time.
It would have been easier for those who had charge of them if one or the other
had held back now and then, and set a slower pace, but as that was not their
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