| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas: Cornelius, at that period, as William of Orange said, began
to enjoy the most perfect unpopularity. To his fellow
citizens, the good burghers of Dort, however, he did not
appear in the light of a criminal who deserved to be hung.
It is true, they did not particularly like his somewhat
austere republicanism, but they were proud of his valour;
and when he made his entrance into their town, the cup of
honour was offered to him, readily enough, in the name of
the city.
After having thanked his fellow citizens, Cornelius
proceeded to his old paternal house, and gave directions for
The Black Tulip |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The American by Henry James: even when it was as irritating as the haircloth shirt of the mediaeval monk.
At one time failure seemed inexorably his portion; ill-luck became his
bed-fellow, and whatever he touched he turned, not to gold, but to ashes.
His most vivid conception of a supernatural element in the world's affairs
had come to him once when this pertinacity of misfortune was at its climax;
there seemed to him something stronger in life than his own will.
But the mysterious something could only be the devil, and he was accordingly
seized with an intense personal enmity to this impertinent force.
He had known what it was to have utterly exhausted his credit,
to be unable to raise a dollar, and to find himself at nightfall
in a strange city, without a penny to mitigate its strangeness.
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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 Father Sergius by Leo Tolstoy: Kasatsky!'
Beyond the partition all was silent.
'Listen! This is cruel. I would not call you if it were not
necessary. I am ill. I don't know what is the matter with me!'
she exclaimed in a tone of suffering. 'Oh! Oh!' she groaned,
falling back on the bench. And strange to say she really felt
that her strength was failing, that she was becoming faint, that
everything in her ached, and that she was shivering with fever.
'Listen! Help me! I don't know what is the matter with me. Oh!
Oh!' She unfastened her dress, exposing her breast, and lifted
her arms, bare to the elbow. 'Oh! Oh!'
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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 Psychology of Revolution by Gustave le Bon: revolution.
Peoples able to adapt themselves progressively do not always
escape revolution. It was only by means of a revolution that the
English, in 1688, were able to terminate the struggle which had
dragged on for a century between the monarchy, which sought to
make itself absolute, and the nation, which claimed the right to
govern itself through the medium of its representatives.
The great revolutions have usually commenced from the top, not
from the bottom; but once the people is unchained it is to the
people that revolution owes its might.
It is obvious that revolutions have never taken place, and will
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