| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Witch, et. al by Anton Chekhov: looked into its little opening. His face was sad and covered with
thick drops like tears. He smiled and said:
"It's a pity, my friend! My goodness, what a pity! The earth, the
forest, the sky, the beasts of all sorts -- all this has been
created, you know, adapted; they all have their intelligence. It
is all going to ruin. And most of all I am sorry for people."
There was the sound in the wood of heavy rain coming nearer.
Meliton looked in the direction of the sound, did up all his
buttons, and said:
"I am going to the village. Good-bye, grandfather. What is your
name?"
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Ivanhoe by Walter Scott: to the will of John; and, without stirring or making
any motion whatever of obedience, opened his
large grey eyes, and stared at the Prince with an
astonishment which had in it something extremely
ludicrous. But the impatient John regarded it in
no such light.
``The Saxon porker,'' he said, ``is either asleep
or minds me not---Prick him with your lance, De
Bracy,'' speaking to a knight who rode near him,
the leader of a band of Free Companions, or Condottieri;
that is, of mercenaries belonging to no
Ivanhoe |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Road to Oz by L. Frank Baum: A little girl, radiant and beautiful, shapely as a fairy and
exquisitely dressed, was dancing gracefully in the middle of the
lonely road, whirling slowly this way and that, her dainty feet
twinkling in sprightly fashion. She was clad in flowing, fluffy robes
of soft material that reminded Dorothy of woven cobwebs, only it was
colored in soft tintings of violet, rose, topaz, olive, azure, and
white, mingled together most harmoniously in stripes which melted one
into the other with soft blendings. Her hair was like spun gold and
flowed around her in a cloud, no strand being fastened or confined by
either pin or ornament or ribbon.
Filled with wonder and admiration our friends approached and
The Road to Oz |
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 Study of a Woman by Honore de Balzac: pass into the house, the porter stopped him, saying that Madame la
marquise was out. As he was getting back into his carriage the Marquis
de Listomere came home.
"Come in, Eugene," he said. "My wife is at home."
Pray excuse the marquis. A husband, however good he may be, never
attains perfection. As they went up the staircase Rastignac perceived
at least a dozen blunders in worldly wisdom which had, unaccountably,
slipped into this page of the glorious book of his life.
When Madame de Listomere saw her husband ushering in Eugene she could
not help blushing. The young baron saw that sudden color. If the most
humble-minded man retains in the depths of his soul a certain conceit
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