| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Aesop's Fables by Aesop: The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
A Wolf found great difficulty in getting at the sheep owing to
the vigilance of the shepherd and his dogs. But one day it found
the skin of a sheep that had been flayed and thrown aside, so it
put it on over its own pelt and strolled down among the sheep.
The Lamb that belonged to the sheep, whose skin the Wolf was
wearing, began to follow the Wolf in the Sheep's clothing; so,
leading the Lamb a little apart, he soon made a meal off her, and
for some time he succeeded in deceiving the sheep, and enjoying
hearty meals.
Appearances are deceptive.
Aesop's Fables |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Essays of Francis Bacon by Francis Bacon: counted by some, a weakness in princes, to have
favorites; but it is, of all others, the best remedy
against ambitious great-ones. For when the way
of pleasuring, and displeasuring, lieth by the
favorite, it is impossible any other should be over-
great. Another means to curb them, is to balance
them by others, as proud as they. But then there
must be some middle counsellors, to keep things
steady; for without that ballast, the ship will roll
too much. At the least, a prince may animate
and inure some meaner persons, to be as it were
Essays of Francis Bacon |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Off on a Comet by Jules Verne: to which the pale blue sky offered scarcely any contrast.
The shore was indented with the marks of many footsteps left
by the colonists either on their way to collect ice for
drinking purposes, or as the result of their skating expeditions;
the edges of the skates had cut out a labyrinth of curves
complicated as the figures traced by aquatic insects upon
the surface of a pool.
Across the quarter of a mile of level ground that lay between
the mountain and the creek, a series of footprints, frozen hard
into the snow, marked the course taken by Isaac Hakkabut on his
last return from Nina's Hive.
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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 Village Rector by Honore de Balzac: made me wish to be a priest. I showed my mother that her best means of
protection would be to marry my sister, as soon as she was old enough,
to some man of strong character, and to look for help to this new
family. Under pretence of avoiding the conscription without costing my
father a penny to buy me off, I entered the seminary of Saint-Sulpice
at the age of nineteen. Within those celebrated old buildings I found
a peace and happiness that were troubled only by the thought of my
mother and my sister's sufferings. Their domestic misery, no doubt,
went on increasing; for whenever they saw me they sought to strengthen
my resolution. Perhaps I had been initiated into the secrets of
charity, such as our great Saint Paul defines it, by my own trials. At
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