| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Proposed Roads To Freedom by Bertrand Russell: effort of thought beyond what the immediate present
requires. Almost as instinctively as the beasts of
the field, they seek the satisfaction of the needs of
the moment, without much forethought, and without
considering that by sufficient effort the whole
conditions of their lives could be changed. A certain
percentage, guided by personal ambition, make the effort
of thought and will which is necessary to place
themselves among the more fortunate members of the
community; but very few among these are seriously
concerned to secure for all the advantages which they
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Cousin Pons by Honore de Balzac: servant-mistress a tolerably handsome commission to persuade her
master to sink a large portion of his money in an annuity. The dying
bachelor, fifty-six by count of years, and twice as old as his age by
reason of amorous campaigns, owned, among other property, a splendid
house in the Rue de Richelieu, worth at that time about two hundred
and fifty thousand francs. It was this house that the hairdresser
coveted; and on agreement to pay an annuity of thirty thousand francs
so long as the bachelor lived, it passed into his hands. This happened
in 1806. And in this year 1846 the hairdresser is still paying that
annuity. He has retired from business, he is seventy years old; the
/ci-devant/ young man is in his dotage; and as he has married his Mme.
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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 Records of a Family of Engineers by Robert Louis Stevenson: morning. The sea being smooth, it seemed to be afloat upon
the water, with a number of men supporting themselves in all
the variety of attitude and position: while, from the upper
part of this wooden house, the volumes of smoke which ascended
from the forges gave the whole a very curious and fanciful
appearance.
In the course of this tide it was observed that a heavy
swell was setting in from the eastward, and the appearance of
the sky indicated a change of weather, while the wind was
shifting about. The barometer also had fallen from 30 in. to
29.6. It was, therefore, judged prudent to shift the vessel
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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 Mistress Wilding by Rafael Sabatini: just as he showed that he was not without response to her affection.
There were some tender passages between them; but Blake, for all his
fine exterior, was a beggar, and Diana far from rich, and so he rode
his feelings with a hard grip upon the reins. And then, in an evil
hour for poor Diana, young Westmacott had taken him to Lupton House,
and Sir Rowland had his first glimpse of Ruth, his first knowledge
of her fortune. He went down before Ruth's eyes like a man of heart;
he went down more lowly still before her possessions like a man of
greed; and poor Diana might console herself with whom she could.
Her brother watched him, appraised him, and thought that in this broken
gamester he had a man after his own heart; a man who would be ready
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