| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death by Patrick Henry: a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power.
The millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a
country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy
can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone.
There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will
raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the
strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir,
we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late
to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery!
Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston!
The war is inevitable--and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Silas Marner by George Eliot: Mrs. Osgood's was past, he was irritated with himself that he had
trusted his horse to Dunstan. Instead of trying to still his fears,
he encouraged them, with that superstitious impression which clings
to us all, that if we expect evil very strongly it is the less
likely to come; and when he heard a horse approaching at a trot, and
saw a hat rising above a hedge beyond an angle of the lane, he felt
as if his conjuration had succeeded. But no sooner did the horse
come within sight, than his heart sank again. It was not Wildfire;
and in a few moments more he discerned that the rider was not
Dunstan, but Bryce, who pulled up to speak, with a face that implied
something disagreeable.
Silas Marner |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Tales of the Klondyke by Jack London: had come into the Northland to be married. So, one day, her eyes
flashed up into Floyd Vanderlip's as he was buying table linen for
Flossie in the P. C. Company's store, and the thing was settled
out of hand.
When a man is free much may go unquestioned, which, should he be
rash enough to cumber himself with domestic ties, society will
instantly challenge. Thus it was with Floyd Vanderlip. Flossie
was coming, and a low buzz went up when Loraine Lisznayi rode down
the main street behind his wolf-dogs. She accompanied the lady
reporter of the "Kansas City Star" when photographs were taken of
his Bonanza properties, and watched the genesis of a six-column
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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 Cousin Pons by Honore de Balzac: will count it first and take enough to buy everything we want--wine,
provisions, wax-candles, all sorts of things, in fact, for there is
nothing in the house. . . . Just look in the drawers for a sheet to
bury him in. I certainly was told that the poor gentleman was simple,
but I don't know what he is; he is worse. He is like a new-born child;
we shall have to feed him with a funnel."
The women went about their work, and Schmucke looked on precisely as
an idiot might have done. Broken down with sorrow, wholly absorbed, in
a half-cataleptic state, he could not take his eyes from the face that
seemed to fascinate him, Pons' face refined by the absolute repose of
Death. Schmucke hoped to die; everything was alike indifferent. If the
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