| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Heroes by Charles Kingsley: his wrist a spotted snake; he came with downcast eyes to
Cheiron, and whispered how he had watched the snake cast its
old skin, and grow young again before his eyes, and how he
had gone down into a village in the vale, and cured a dying
man with a herb which he had seen a sick goat eat.
And Cheiron smiled, and said, 'To each Athene and Apollo give
some gift, and each is worthy in his place; but to this child
they have given an honour beyond all honours, to cure while
others kill.'
Then the lads brought in wood, and split it, and lighted a
blazing fire; and others skinned the deer and quartered them,
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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 Melmoth Reconciled by Honore de Balzac: reform until the morrow. The debts were pressing, and he began by
borrowing money. His position and previous character inspired
confidence, and of this he took advantage to devise a system of
borrowing money as he required it. Then, as the total amount of debt
rapidly increased, he had recourse to those commercial inventions
known as accommodation bills. This form of bill does not represent
goods or other value received, and the first endorser pays the amount
named for the obliging person who accepts it. This species of fraud is
tolerated because it is impossible to detect it, and, moreover, it is
an imaginary fraud which only becomes real if payment is ultimately
refused.
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