| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Street of Seven Stars by Mary Roberts Rinehart: The boy was asleep, holding the letter in his thin hands.
The visit to the hospital was a good thing for Harmony--to find
some one worse off than she was, to satisfy that eternal desire
of women to do something, however small, for some one else. Her
own troubles looked very small to her that day as she left the
hospital and stepped out into the bright sunshine.
She passed the impassive sentry, then turned and went back to
him.
"Do you wish to do a very kind thing?" she asked in German.
Now the conversation of an Austrian sentry consists of yea, yea,
and nay, nay, and not always that. But Harmony was lovely and the
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe: lost, and all that I had; the loss of my effects did not lie so
near me, though very considerable, as the thoughts of falling into
the hands of such barbarians at the latter end of my journey, after
so many difficulties and hazards as I had gone through, and even in
sight of our port, where we expected safety and deliverance. As to
my partner, he was raging, and declared that to lose his goods
would be his ruin, and that he would rather die than be starved,
and he was for fighting to the last drop.
The young lord, a most gallant youth, was for fighting to the last
also; and my old pilot was of opinion that we were able to resist
them all in the situation we were then in. Thus we spent the day
Robinson Crusoe |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Democracy In America, Volume 2 by Alexis de Toqueville: in our part of the globe, and he observes that among the nations
of Europe the traces of rank are not wholly obliterated; that
wealth and birth still retain some indeterminate privileges,
which force themselves upon his notice whilst they elude
definition. He is therefore profoundly ignorant of the place
which he ought to occupy in this half-ruined scale of classes,
which are sufficiently distinct to hate and despise each other,
yet sufficiently alike for him to be always confounding them. He
is afraid of ranging himself too high - still more is he afraid
of being ranged too low; this twofold peril keeps his mind
constantly on the stretch, and embarrasses all he says and does.
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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 The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave by Frederick Douglass: jected to the terrible liability of being seized upon
by his fellowmen, as the hideous crocodile seizes
upon his prey!--I say, let him place himself in my
situation--without home or friends--without money
or credit--wanting shelter, and no one to give it--
wanting bread, and no money to buy it,--and at the
same time let him feel that he is pursued by merci-
less men-hunters, and in total darkness as to what
to do, where to go, or where to stay,--perfectly help-
less both as to the means of defence and means of
escape,--in the midst of plenty, yet suffering the ter-
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave |
