| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Poor and Proud by Oliver Optic: So far as Katy's person and manners were concerned, she was
admirably adapted to the business she had chosen. She was rather
small in stature for one of her age, but she was very well
formed, and her movements were agile and graceful. Her face was
not as pretty as it might have been, but her expression was
artless and winning. Her light brown hair hung in curls upon her
shoulders, and contributed not a little to make up the deficiency
in what the painters and sculptors would call a finely chiseled
face.
If she had been dressed in silk, and lace, and embroidery, I
doubt not people would have called her pretty, though in my
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Helen of Troy And Other Poems by Sara Teasdale: Where the girls with thirsty eyes go by
On the errand each man knows.
And on we walked and on we walked,
At the door at last we said good-bye;
I knew by his smile he had not heard
My heart's unuttered cry.
With the man I love who loves me not
I walked in the street-lamps' flare --
But oh, the girls who can ask for love
In the lights of Union Square.
Central Park at Dusk
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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 Dust by Mr. And Mrs. Haldeman-Julius: Yet, she knew these were not her real reasons. They lay far
deeper, in the very warp and woof of her nature. She did not
leave Martin because she could not. She was incapable of making
drastic changes, of tearing herself from anyone to whom she was
tied by habit and affection--no matter how bitterly the mood of
the moment might demand it. Always she would be bound by
circumstances. True, however hard and adverse they might prove,
she could adapt herself to them with rare patience and dignity,
but never would she be able to compel them to her will, rise
superbly above them, toss them aside. Her life had been, and
would be, shaped largely by others. Her mother's death, the
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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 Euthydemus by Plato: business, and if he were to hammer the smith, and make a pot of the potter,
he would do their business.
Poseidon, I said, this is the crown of wisdom; can I ever hope to have such
wisdom of my own?
And would you be able, Socrates, to recognize this wisdom when it has
become your own?
Certainly, I said, if you will allow me.
What, he said, do you think that you know what is your own?
Yes, I do, subject to your correction; for you are the bottom, and
Euthydemus is the top, of all my wisdom.
Is not that which you would deem your own, he said, that which you have in
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