| 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: in a little office in the damp, dark /entresol/ above the shop, whose
single window was one third darkened by a sign which intercepted the
daylight and bore the name,--A. POPINOT.
"Behold a lieutenant of Alexander," said Cesar, with the gaiety of
grief, pointing to the sign.
This forced gaiety, through which an inextinguishable sense of the
superiority which Birotteau attributed to himself was naively
revealed, made Ragon shudder in spite of his seventy years. Cesar saw
his wife passing down letters and papers for Popinot to sign; he could
neither restrain his tears nor keep his face from turning pale.
"Good-morning, my friend," she said to him, smiling.
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 The Ancient Regime by Charles Kingsley: What kept them from intermarrying with the middle class save pride?
What made them give up the office of governors save idleness? And
if vanity, profligacy, pride, and idleness be not injustices and
moral vices, what are?
The race of heroic knights and nobles who fought under the walls of
Jerusalem--who wrestled, and not in vain, for centuries with the
equally heroic English, in defence of their native soil--who had set
to all Europe the example of all knightly virtues, had rotted down
to this; their only virtue left, as Mr. Carlyle says, being--a
perfect readiness to fight duels.
Every Intendant, chosen by the Comptroller-General out of the lower-
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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 Helen of Troy And Other Poems by Sara Teasdale: The Return
I turned the key and opened wide the door
To enter my deserted room again,
Where thro' the long hot months the dust had lain.
Was it not lonely when across the floor
No step was heard, no sudden song that bore
My whole heart upward with a joyous pain?
Were not the pictures and the volumes fain
To have me with them always as before?
But Giorgione's Venus did not deign
To lift her lids, nor did the subtle smile
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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 The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James: demons that could find room came in that place with me. This was
not all the company I had, either. No, praise the Lord: that
dear Spirit that came to me in the saloon was present, and
said, Pray. I did pray, and though I did not feel any great
help, I kept on praying. As soon as I was able to leave my cell
I was taken to the police court and remanded back to the cell. I
was finally released, and found my way to my brother's house,
where every care was given me. While lying in bed the
admonishing Spirit never left me, and when I arose the following
Sabbath morning I felt that day would decide my fate, and toward
evening it came into my head to go to Jerry M'Auley's Mission. I
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