| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Elixir of Life by Honore de Balzac: my son, unless you carry out my wishes."
"Oh, quick; tell me quickly, father."
"As soon as I have closed my eyes," Don Juan went on, "and that
may be in a few minutes, you must take my body before it grows
cold and lay it on a table in this room. Then put out the lamp;
the light of the stars should be sufficient. Take off my clothes,
reciting Aves and Paters the while, raising your soul to God in
prayer, and carefully anoint my lips and eyes with this holy
water; begin with the face, and proceed successively to my limbs
and the rest of my body; my dear son, the power of God is so
great that you must be astonished at nothing."
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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 Travels of Sir John Mandeville by Sir John Mandeville: and she wend that he had been a gardener.
In the church of Saint Sepulchre was wont to be canons of the order
of Saint Augustine, and had a prior, but the patriarch was their
sovereign.
And without the doors of the church, on the right side as men go
upward eighteen grees, said our Lord to his mother, MULIER, ECCE
FILIUS TUUS; that is to say, Woman, lo! thy Son! And after that he
said to John, his disciple, ECCE MATER TUA; that is to say, Lo!
behold thy mother! And these words he said on the cross. And on
these grees went our Lord when he bare the cross on his shoulder.
And under these grees is a chapel, and in that chapel sing priests,
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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 Deputy of Arcis by Honore de Balzac: nation. Besides which, you will get into difficulties with madame,
who, I am told, is the protectress of one of these sovereigns of late
date."
"I?" said Madame de l'Estorade, rather surprised, and blushing a
little. She had one of those complexions, still fresh and dazzling,
which are predisposed to these flushes of color.
"Ah! true," said Madame de Rastignac; "I had forgotten that artist who
cut out the pretty figures for your children the last time I had the
pleasure of paying you a visit. I own I was far from thinking then
that he would be one of our masters."
"And yet, ever since then," replied Madame de l'Estorade, "his
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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 Moon-Face and Other Stories by Jack London: locked, but we crashed it down by hurling ourselves against it. There she lay,
just as she had finished dressing for the opera, smothered with pillows torn
from the couch, the flush of life yet on her flesh, the body still flexible
and warm. Let me pass over the rest of this horror. You will surely remember,
John, the newspaper accounts.
Late that night Mr. Hale summoned me to him, and before God did pledge me most
solemnly to stand by him and not to compromise, even if all kith and kin were
destroyed.
The next day I was surprised at his cheerfulness. I had thought he would be
deeply shocked by this last tragedy--how deep I was soon to learn. All day he
was light-hearted and high-spirited, as though at last he had found a way out
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