| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Elixir of Life by Honore de Balzac: By the soft moonlight that lit strange gleams across the country
without, Felipe could dimly see his father's body, a vague white
thing among the shadows. The dutiful son moistened a linen cloth
with the liquid, and, absorbed in prayer, he anointed the revered
face. A deep silence reigned. Felipe heard faint, indescribable
rustlings; it was the breeze in the tree-tops, he thought. But
when he had moistened the right arm, he felt himself caught by
the throat, a young strong hand held him in a tight grip--it was
his father's hand! He shrieked aloud; the flask dropped from his
hand and broke in pieces. The liquid evaporated; the whole
household hurried into the room, holding torches aloft. That
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Sanitary and Social Lectures by Charles Kingsley: them. But this I may say: Those who habitually take in fresh
breath will probably grow up large, strong, ruddy, cheerful,
active, clear-headed, fit for their work. Those who habitually
take in the breath which has been breathed out by themselves, or
any other living creature, will certainly grow up, if they grow up
at all, small, weak, pale, nervous, depressed, unfit for work, and
tempted continually to resort to stimulants, and become drunkards.
If you want to see how different the breath breathed out is from
the breath taken in, you have only to try a somewhat cruel
experiment, but one which people too often try upon themselves,
their children, and their workpeople. If you take any small
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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 Selected Writings of Guy De Maupassant by Guy De Maupassant: beadle and the porter."
On the other side of the square, opposite the white, closed front
of the mairie, the church, mute and black, showed its great oak
door with the wrought-iron trimmings.
Then, as the puzzled inhabitants put their noses out of the
windows, or came out upon the steps of their houses, the rolling
of a drum was heard, and Torcheboeuf suddenly appeared, beating
with fury the three quick strokes of the call to arms. He crossed
the square with disciplined step, and then disappeared on a road
leading to the country.
The Commander drew his sword, advanced alone to the middle
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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 De Profundis by Oscar Wilde: boyhood. There is not a single colour hidden away in the chalice
of a flower, or the curve of a shell, to which, by some subtle
sympathy with the very soul of things, my nature does not answer.
Like Gautier, I have always been one of those 'pour qui le monde
visible existe.'
Still, I am conscious now that behind all this beauty, satisfying
though it may be, there is some spirit hidden of which the painted
forms and shapes are but modes of manifestation, and it is with
this spirit that I desire to become in harmony. I have grown tired
of the articulate utterances of men and things. The Mystical in
Art, the Mystical in Life, the Mystical in Nature this is what I am
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