| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Somebody's Little Girl by Martha Young: cake that the little girls dropped, but you may be sure that they
did not drop so very many, many little brown crumbs for little brown
birds to find.
But if they were dropped, even if by rare chance were the crumbs so
large as to be nearly as large as half of a cake--why then, that
crumb had to stay for those little birds. It was the law! The law
that the little girls had made for themselves, and nobody but
themselves knew about that law--for the good of the birds. But no
little girl cared to disobey that law of their own that nobody but
themselves knew about, for if one had--how dreadful it would have
been--no little girl would have played with her until--oh, so long,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne: The humming ceased by degrees, and the hive eventually yielded several pounds
of the sweetest honey, with which Ned Land filled his haversack.
"When I have mixed this honey with the paste of the bread-fruit,"
said he, "I shall be able to offer you a succulent cake."
{`bread-fruit' has been substituted for `artocarpus' in this ed.}
"'Pon my word," said Conseil, "it will be gingerbread."
"Never mind the gingerbread," said I; "let us continue our interesting walk."
At every turn of the path we were following, the lake appeared
in all its length and breadth. The lantern lit up the whole
of its peaceable surface, which knew neither ripple nor wave.
The Nautilus remained perfectly immovable. On the platform,
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Travels of Sir John Mandeville by Sir John Mandeville: In this isle is a great river that is well a two mile and an half
of breadth that is clept Beaumare.
And from that river a fifteen journeys in length, going by the
deserts of the tother side of the river - whoso might go it, for I
was not there, but it was told us of them of the country, that
within those deserts were the trees of the sun and of the moon,
that spake to King Alexander, and warned him of his death. And men
say that the folk that keep those trees, and eat of the fruit and
of the balm that groweth there, live well four hundred year or five
hundred year, by virtue of the fruit and of the balm. For men say
that balm groweth there in great plenty and nowhere else, save only
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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 Selected Writings of Guy De Maupassant by Guy De Maupassant: which I replied: 'A quartermaster of hussars.'
"I heard the noise of bolts, and of a key being turned. Then I
found myself face to face with a tall priest with a large
stomach, the chest of a prize-fighter, formidable hands
projecting from turned-up sleeves, a red face, and the looks of a
kind man. I gave him a military salute and said: 'Good day,
Monsieur le Cure.'
"He had feared a surprise, some marauders' ambush, and he smiled
as he replied: 'Good day, my friend; come in.' I followed him
into a small room, with a red tiled floor, in which a small fire
was burning, very different to Marchas's furnace. He gave me a
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