| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Odyssey by Homer: ye wooers, refrain your minds from rebukes and your hands
from buffets, that no strife and feud may arise.'
So he said, and they all bit their lips and marvelled at
Telemachus, in that he spake boldly. Then Antinous, son of
Eupeithes, spake among them, saying:
'Hard though the word be, let us accept it, Achaeans, even
the word of Telemachus, though mightily he threatens us in
his speech. For Zeus Cronion hath hindered us of our
purpose, else would we have silenced him in our halls,
shrill orator as he is.'
So spake Antinous, but Telemachus took no heed of his
The Odyssey |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Three Taverns by Edwin Arlington Robinson: Do you hear them? Do you hear them overhead -- the children -- singing?
Do you hear them? Do you hear the children?"
"Damn the children!"
"Why?
What have THEY done? . . . Well, then, -- do it. . . . Do it now,
and have it over."
"Oh, you devil! . . . Oh, you. . . ."
"No, I'm not a devil, I'm a prophet --
One who sees the end already of so much that one end more
Would have now the small importance of one other small illusion,
Which in turn would have a welcome where the rest have gone before.
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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 Several Works by Edgar Allan Poe: from his astonishment.
"True," I replied; "the Amontillado."
As I said these words I busied myself among the pile of bones
of which I have before spoken. Throwing them aside, I soon un-
covered a quantity of building stone and mortar. With these
materials and with the aid of my trowel, I began vigorously to wall
up the entrance of the niche.
I had scarcely laid the first tier of the masonry when I discovered
that the intoxication of Fortunato had in a great measure worn off.
The earliest indication I had of this was a low moaning cry from
the depth of the recess. It was not the cry of a drunken man.
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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 The Copy-Cat & Other Stories by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman: get the supper, and wash the dishes, and not be able
to say she did it and I didn't, when I did," Annie
thought with unholy joy. She knew perfectly well
that her viewpoint was not sanctified, but she felt
that she must allow her soul to have its little witch-
caper or she could not answer for the consequences.
There might result spiritual atrophy, which would
be much more disastrous than sin and repentance.
It was either the continuance of her old life in her
father's house, which was the ignominious and harm-
ful one of the scapegoat, or this. She at last reveled
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