| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Hated Son by Honore de Balzac: manifested by the count, whose tone in pronouncing the last words
seemed to Beauvouloir to point to some better scheme for reaching his
infernal ends. The shrewd practitioner turned this idea over in his
mind until a light struck him.
"I have it!" he said to himself. "This great and good noble does not
want to make himself odious to his wife; he'll trust to the vials of
the apothecary. I must warn the lady to see to the food and medicine
of her babe."
As he turned toward the bed, the count who had opened a closet,
stopped him with an imperious gesture, holding out a purse.
Beauvouloir saw within its red silk meshes a quantity of gold, which
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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 Octopus by Frank Norris: distant glimmer of the flowers. He heard nothing but the drip of
the fountain. Nothing moved about him but the invisible, slow-
passing breaths of perfume; yet he felt the approach of the
Vision.
It came first to about the middle of the Seed ranch itself, some
half a mile away, where the violets grew; shrinking, timid
flowers, hiding close to the ground. Then it passed forward
beyond the violets, and drew nearer and stood amid the
mignonette, hardier blooms that dared look heavenward from out
the leaves. A few nights later it left the mignonette behind,
and advanced into the beds of white iris that pushed more boldly
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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 Daisy Miller by Henry James: toward the residence of his aunt, Mrs. Costello.
He flattered himself on the following day that there was no smiling
among the servants when he, at least, asked for Mrs. Miller at
her hotel. This lady and her daughter, however, were not at home;
and on the next day after, repeating his visit, Winterbourne again
had the misfortune not to find them. Mrs. Walker's party took place
on the evening of the third day, and, in spite of the frigidity of his
last interview with the hostess, Winterbourne was among the guests.
Mrs. Walker was one of those American ladies who, while residing abroad,
make a point, in their own phrase, of studying European society,
and she had on this occasion collected several specimens of her
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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 Alcibiades I by Plato: course, be those who know?
ALCIBIADES: Certainly not.
SOCRATES: But if neither those who know, nor those who know that they do
not know, make mistakes, there remain those only who do not know and think
that they know.
ALCIBIADES: Yes, only those.
SOCRATES: Then this is ignorance of the disgraceful sort which is
mischievous?
ALCIBIADES: Yes.
SOCRATES: And most mischievous and most disgraceful when having to do with
the greatest matters?
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