| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from When a Man Marries by Mary Roberts Rinehart: someone came whistling along the hall below, and he pushed me
from him and stood listening, breathing in long, gasping breaths.
I ran; when my shaky knees would hold me, I ran. I wanted to hide
my hot face, my disgust, my disillusion; I wanted to put my head
in mother's lap and cry; I wanted to die, or be ill, so I need
never see him again. Perversely enough, I did none of those
things. With my face still flaming, with burning eyes and hands
that shook, I made a belated evening toilet and went slowly,
haughtily, down the stairs. My hands were like ice, but I was
consumed with rage. Oh, I would show him--that this was New York,
not Iquique; that the roof was not his Andean tableland.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Maid Marian by Thomas Love Peacock: The conqueror was to be rewarded with a golden arrow from the hand
of the Queen of the May, who was to be his partner in the dance till
the close of the feast. This stimulated the knight's emulation:
young Gamwell supplied him with a bow and arrow, and he took his
station among the foresters, but had the mortification to be out-shot
by them all, and to see one of them lodge the point of his arrow
in the golden ring of the centre, and receive the prize from the hand
of the beautiful Matilda, who smiled on him with particular grace.
The jealous knight scrutinised the successful champion with
great attention, and surely thought he had seen that face before.
In the mean time the forester led the lady to the station.
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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 Goodness of St. Rocque and Other Stories by Alice Dunbar: Manuela paused, her eyes blinking at the semi-obscurity within.
The Wizened One called in croaking tones:
"An' fo' w'y you come here? Assiez-la, ma'amzelle."
Timidly Manuela sat at the table facing the owner of the voice.
"I want," she began faintly; but the Mistress of the Cards
understood: she had had much experience. The cards were shuffled
in her long grimy talons and stacked before Manuela.
"Now you cut dem in t'ree part, so--un, deux, trois, bien! You
mek' you' weesh wid all you' heart, bien! Yaas, I see, I see!"
Breathlessly did Manuela learn that her lover was true, but "dat
light gal, yaas, she mek' nouvena in St. Rocque fo' hees love."
The Goodness of St. Rocque and Other Stories |
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 An Historical Mystery by Honore de Balzac: sooner had the Simeuse twins dismounted than a cry of surprise arose
on all sides, caused by their amazing resemblance,--the same look, the
same voice, the same actions. They both had the same movement in
rising from their saddles, in throwing their leg over the crupper of
their horses when dismounting, in flinging the reins upon the animal's
neck. Their dress, precisely the same, contributed to this likeness.
They wore boots /a la/ Suwaroff, made to fit the instep, tight
trousers of white leather, green hunting-jackets with metal buttons,
black cravats, and buckskin gloves. The two young men, just thirty-one
years of age, were--to use a term in vogue in those days--charming
cavaliers, of medium height but well set up, brilliant eyes with long
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