| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Concerning Christian Liberty by Martin Luther: I have indeed inveighed sharply against impious doctrines, and I
have not been slack to censure my adversaries on account, not of
their bad morals, but of their impiety. And for this I am so far
from being sorry that I have brought my mind to despise the
judgments of men and to persevere in this vehement zeal,
according to the example of Christ, who, in His zeal, calls His
adversaries a generation of vipers, blind, hypocrites, and
children of the devil. Paul, too, charges the sorcerer with being
a child of the devil, full of all subtlety and all malice; and
defames certain persons as evil workers, dogs, and deceivers. In
the opinion of those delicate-eared persons, nothing could be
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Black Beauty by Anna Sewell: In about half an hour John and Mr. York, who was to be our new coachman,
came in to see us.
"Now, Mr. Manly," he said, after carefully looking at us both,
"I can see no fault in these horses; but we all know that horses
have their peculiarities as well as men, and that sometimes they need
different treatment. I should like to know if there is anything particular
in either of these that you would like to mention."
"Well," said John, "I don't believe there is a better pair of horses
in the country, and right grieved I am to part with them,
but they are not alike. The black one is the most perfect temper
I ever knew; I suppose he has never known a hard word or a blow
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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 Beast in the Jungle by Henry James: have been days when we have thought almost anything."
"Everything. Oh!" Marcher softly groaned, as with a gasp, half
spent, at the face, more uncovered just then than it had been for a
long while, of the imagination always with them. It had always had
it's incalculable moments of glaring out, quite as with the very
eyes of the very Beast, and, used as he was to them, they could
still draw from him the tribute of a sigh that rose from the depths
of his being. All they had thought, first and last, rolled over
him; the past seemed to have been reduced to mere barren
speculation. This in fact was what the place had just struck him
as so full of--the simplification of everything but the state of
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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 Twilight Land by Howard Pyle: "Tell me," said the young man to the Talisman, "what shall I do
now?"
"Thou fool," said the Talisman, "go sweat and toil, but do not go
down into the vault beneath this house. There in the vault is a
red stone built into the wall. The red stone turns upon a pivot.
Behind the stone is a hollow space. As thou wouldst save thy life
from peril, go not near it!"
"Hear that now," says the young man, "first, this Talisman told
me not to go, and I found silver. Then it told me not to go, and
I found gold; now it tells me not to go--perhaps I shall find
precious stones enough for a king's ransom."
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