| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe: The consequence of this was, that the bills increased again 400 the
very first week in November; and if I might believe the physicians,
there was above 3000 fell sick that week, most of them new-comers, too.
One John Cock, a barber in St Martin's-le-Grand, was an eminent
example of this; I mean of the hasty return of the people when the
plague was abated. This John Cock had left the town with his whole
family, and locked up his house, and was gone in the country, as many
others did; and finding the plague so decreased in November that
there died but 905 per week of all diseases, he ventured home again.
He had in his family ten persons; that is to say, himself and wife, five
children, two apprentices, and a maid-servant. He had not returned to
A Journal of the Plague Year |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Barlaam and Ioasaph by St. John of Damascus: these things, that they have no power at all. Though they see
their gods being devoured, burnt and killed by other men, and
rotting away, they cannot grasp the fact that they are no gods.
"Great, then, is the error that the Egyptians, the Chaldeans, and
the Greeks have erred in introducing such gods as these, and
making images thereof, and deifying dumb and senseless idols. I
marvel how, when they behold their gods being sawn and chiselled
by workmen's axes, growing old and dissolving through lapse of
time, and molten in the pot, they never reflected concerning them
that they are no gods. For when these skill not to work their
own salvation, how can they take care of mankind? Nay, even the
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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 The Reef by Edith Wharton: a certain gravity of mood. His happiness was in some sort
the rallying-point of many scattered purposes. He summed it
up vaguely by saying to himself that to be loved by a woman
like that made "all the difference"...He was a little tired
of experimenting on life; he wanted to "take a line", to
follow things up, to centralize and concentrate, and produce
results. Two or three more years of diplomacy--with her
beside him!--and then their real life would begin: study,
travel and book-making for him, and for her--well, the joy,
at any rate, of getting out of an atmosphere of bric-a-brac
and card-leaving into the open air of competing activities.
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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 Baby Mine by Margaret Mayo: What Jimmy and the women saw next appeared to be the dance of a
whirling dervish; as a matter of fact, it was merely a man, mad
with delight, clasping two infants in long clothes and circling
the room with them.
When Alfred could again enunciate distinctly, he rushed to Zoie's
side with the babes in his arms.
"My darling," he exclaimed, "why didn't you tell me?"
"I was ashamed," whispered Zoie, hiding her head to shut out the
sight of the red faces pressed close to hers.
"My angel!" cried Alfred, struggling to control his complicated
emotions; then gazing at the precious pair in his arms, he cast
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