| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Eugenie Grandet by Honore de Balzac: nature to grow enthusiastic, or angry, or fervent about some meteor of
the moment. Can it be that collective beings, nationalities, peoples,
are devoid of memory?
When Pere Grandet had shut the door he called Nanon.
"Don't let the dog loose, and don't go to bed; we have work to do
together. At eleven o'clock Cornoiller will be at the door with the
chariot from Froidfond. Listen for him and prevent his knocking; tell
him to come in softly. Police regulations don't allow nocturnal
racket. Besides, the whole neighborhood need not know that I am
starting on a journey."
So saying, Grandet returned to his private room, where Nanon heard him
Eugenie Grandet |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Eugenie Grandet by Honore de Balzac: way, mademoiselle; your eyes are like those of a lost soul."
From that day the beauty of Mademoiselle Grandet took a new character.
The solemn thoughts of love which slowly filled her soul, and the
dignity of the woman beloved, gave to her features an illumination
such as painters render by a halo. Before the coming of her cousin,
Eugenie might be compared to the Virgin before the conception; after
he had gone, she was like the Virgin Mother,--she had given birth to
love. These two Marys so different, so well represented by Spanish
art, embody one of those shining symbols with which Christianity
abounds.
Returning from Mass on the morning after Charles's departure,--having
Eugenie Grandet |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Collection of Antiquities by Honore de Balzac: the Tribunal; M. Sauvager, deputy Public Prosecutor; and M. du
Coudrai, a registrar of mortgages, who had lost his post by voting on
the wrong side, were the only persons who were supposed to know about
it; but Mesdames du Ronceret and du Coudrai had told the news, in
strict confidence, to one or two intimate friends, so that it had
spread half over the semi-noble, semi-bourgeois assembly at M. du
Croisier's. Everybody felt the gravity of the situation, but no one
ventured to speak of it openly; and, moreover, Mme. du Croisier's
attachment to the upper sphere was so well known, that people scarcely
dared to mention the disaster which had befallen the d'Esgrignons or
to ask for particulars. The persons most interested were waiting till
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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 Father Sergius by Leo Tolstoy: read a psalm, and suddenly in the middle of the psalm a sparrow
flew out from the bush, alighted on the ground, and hopped
towards him chirping as it came, but then it took fright at
something and flew away. He said a prayer which referred to his
abandonment of the world, and hastened to finish it in order to
send for the merchant with the sick daughter. She interested him
in that she presented a distraction, and because both she and her
father considered him a saint whose prayers were efficacious.
Outwardly he disavowed that idea, but in the depths of his soul
he considered it to be true.
He was often amazed that this had happened, that he, Stepan
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