| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Rivers to the Sea by Sara Teasdale: Robin's lost in play,
But the kiss in Colin's eyes
Haunts me night and day.
SPRING
IN Central Park the lovers sit,
On every hilly path they stroll,
Each thinks his love is infinite,
And crowns his soul.
But we are cynical and wise,
We walk a careful foot apart,
You make a little joke that tries
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Juana by Honore de Balzac: simplicity of a first love, would have committed the enchanting
imprudences which are so difficult to resist. But he did resist even
Juana herself, Juana pouting, Juana making her long hair a chain which
she wound about his neck when caution told him he must go.
The most suspicious of guardians would however have been puzzled to
detect the secret of their nightly meetings. It is to be supposed
that, sure of success, the Italian marquis gave himself the ineffable
pleasures of a slow seduction, step by step, leading gradually to the
fire which should end the affair in a conflagration. On the eleventh
day, at the dinner-table, he thought it wise to inform old Perez,
under seal of secrecy, that the reason of his separation from his
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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 Tanglewood Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne: six-armed giants, as you say, and these are the enemies whom I
and my subjects have to contend with."
The next day, when the Argonauts were about setting sail, down
came these terrible giants, stepping a hundred yards at a
stride, brandishing their six arms apiece, and looking
formidable, so far aloft in the air. Each of these monsters was
able to carry on a whole war by himself, for with one arm he
could fling immense stones, and wield a club with another, and
a sword with a third, while the fourth was poking a long spear
at the enemy, and the fifth and sixth were shooting him with a
bow and arrow. But, luckily, though the giants were so huge,
Tanglewood Tales |
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 Maria, or the Wrongs of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft: you believe it?--he signed an execution on my very goods, bought
with the money I worked so hard to get; and they came and took my
bed from under me, before I heard a word of the matter. Aye, madam,
these are misfortunes that you gentlefolks know nothing of,--but
sorrow is sorrow, let it come which way it will.
"'I sought for a service again--very hard, after having a
house of my own!--but he used to follow me, and kick up such a riot
when he was drunk, that I could not keep a place; nay, he even
stole my clothes, and pawned them; and when I went to the
pawnbroker's, and offered to take my oath that they were not bought
with a farthing of his money, they said, 'It was all as one, my
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