| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Crisis in Russia by Arthur Ransome: strongly held by themselves, and these same Whites refused
to believe that the village where I had spent the preceding
night was in the possession of the Reds. It is largely an
affair of scouting parties, of patrols dodging each other
through the forest tracks, of swift raids, of sudden
conviction (often entirely erroneous) on the part of one side
or the other, that it or the enemy has been "encircled." The
actual number of combatants to a mile of front is infinitely
less than during the German war. Further, since an
immense proportion of these combatants on both sides have
no wish to fight at all, being without patriotic or political
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Young Forester by Zane Grey: slope beneath. Far down was a great patch of fire. It was like a crazy
quilt, here dark, there light, with streaks and stars and streams of fire
shining out of the blackness. Masses of slow-moving smoke overhung the
brighter areas. The night robbed the forest fire of its fierceness and lent
it a kind of glory. The fire had ceased to move; it had spent its force,
run its race, and was now dying. But I could not forget what it had been,
what it had done. Thousands of acres of magnificent pines had perished. The
shade and color and beauty of that part of the forest had gone. The heart
of the great trees was now slowly rolling away in those dark, weird clouds
of smoke. I was sad for the loss and sick with fear for Dick and Hiram.
Herky must have known my mind.
The Young Forester |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from On the Duty of Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau: constitute a majority of one, before they suffer the right
to prevail through them. I think that it is enough if they
have God on their side, without waiting for that other one.
Moreover, any man more right than his neighbors constitutes
a majority of one already.
I meet this American government, or its representative,
the State government, directly, and face to face, once a
year--no more--in the person of its tax-gatherer; this is
the only mode in which a man situated as I am necessarily
meets it; and it then says distinctly, Recognize me; and
the simplest, the most effectual, and, in the present
On the Duty of Civil Disobedience |
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 Adieu by Honore de Balzac: He returned to implore the help of his friend. Together they lifted
the old general, without knowing whether he were dead or alive, and
put him beside his wife. The major then rolled over the men who were
sleeping on his blankets, which he tossed into the carriage, together
with some roasted fragments of his mare.
"What do you mean to do?" asked the aide-de-camp.
"Drag them."
"You are crazy."
"True," said Philippe, crossing his arms in despair.
Suddenly, he was seized by a last despairing thought.
"To you," he said, grasping the sound arm of his orderly, "I confide
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