| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from An Episode Under the Terror by Honore de Balzac: the idea of being followed, she tried to walk faster toward a brightly
lit shop window, in the hope of verifying the suspicions which had
taken hold of her mind.
So soon as she stood in the shaft of light that streamed out across
the road, she turned her head suddenly, and caught sight of a human
figure looming through the fog. The dim vision was enough for her. For
one moment she reeled beneath an overpowering weight of dread, for she
could not doubt any longer that the man had followed her the whole way
from her own door; then the desire to escape from the spy gave her
strength. Unable to think clearly, she walked twice as fast as before,
as if it were possible to escape from a man who of course could move
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from O Pioneers! by Willa Cather: She was going over to the other ocean, maybe,
and did not know how far it was. She was
afraid of never getting there. She was more
mournful than our birds here; she cried in the
night. She saw the light from my window and
darted up to it. Maybe she thought my house
was a boat, she was such a wild thing. Next
morning, when the sun rose, I went out to take
her food, but she flew up into the sky and went
on her way." Ivar ran his fingers through his
thick hair. "I have many strange birds stop
O Pioneers! |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Paradise Lost by John Milton: Over the foaming deep high-arched, a bridge
Of length prodigious, joining to the wall
Immoveable of this now fenceless world,
Forfeit to Death; from hence a passage broad,
Smooth, easy, inoffensive, down to Hell.
So, if great things to small may be compared,
Xerxes, the liberty of Greece to yoke,
From Susa, his Memnonian palace high,
Came to the sea: and, over Hellespont
Bridging his way, Europe with Asia joined,
And scourged with many a stroke the indignant waves.
Paradise Lost |
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: And if you do not know, you are not knowing.
Yes, friend, of that which I do not know.
Still you are not knowing, and you said just now that you were knowing; and
therefore you are and are not at the same time, and in reference to the
same things.
A pretty clatter, as men say, Euthydemus, this of yours! and will you
explain how I possess that knowledge for which we were seeking? Do you
mean to say that the same thing cannot be and also not be; and therefore,
since I know one thing, that I know all, for I cannot be knowing and not
knowing at the same time, and if I know all things, then I must have the
knowledge for which we are seeking--May I assume this to be your ingenious
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