| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas: of superstitious thoughts. Although it was impossible that
Valentine should see him, hidden as he was, he thought he
heard the shadow at the window call him; his disturbed mind
told him so. This double error became an irresistible
reality, and by one of the incomprehensible transports of
youth, he bounded from his hiding-place, and with two
strides, at the risk of being seen, at the risk of alarming
Valentine, at the risk of being discovered by some
exclamation which might escape the young girl, he crossed
the flower-garden, which by the light of the moon resembled
a large white lake, and having passed the rows of
The Count of Monte Cristo |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Bab:A Sub-Deb, Mary Roberts Rinehart by Mary Roberts Rinehart: sick of her actions and came in to Lunch. They called up to me, but
I said I was not hungry.
"I don't know what's come over Bab," I heard Sis say to Carter
Brooks. "She's crazy, I think."
"She's seventeen," he said. "That's all. They get over it mostly,
but she has it hard."
I lothed him.
Pretty soon the other crowd came up, and I could see every one knew
the joke but Mr. Beecher. They all scuttled into their doorways,
and Mr. Patten waited till Mr. Beecher was inside and had thrown out
the shirt of his bathing Suit. Then he locked the door from the outside.
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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 The Breaking Point by Mary Roberts Rinehart: not to spoil his neat parting.
"You have never told me all about Dick, daddy. You have always
kept something back. That's true, isn't it?"
"There were details," he said uncomfortably. "It wasn't necessary -"
"Here's what I want to know. If he has gone back to the time - you
know, wouldn't he go back to caring for the people he loved then?"
Then, suddenly, her childish appeal ceased, and she slid from the
chair and stood before him. "I must know, father. I can bear it.
The thing you have been keeping from me was another woman, wasn't it?"
"It was so long ago," he temporized. "Think of it, Elizabeth. A
boy of twenty-one or so."
The Breaking Point |
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 Poems of Goethe, Bowring, Tr. by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Chords not only grace the lyre,
For the bow its chords bath too.
Even the adorer's heart
Dreads the wild advancing hand,
For the flames that round them dart
Show the fierce destroyer's hand.
Oh neglect not what I say,
For I speak it lovingly!
From our boundaries haste away,
From the god's dread anger fly!
Cleanse once more the holy place,
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