| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from When a Man Marries by Mary Roberts Rinehart: board was thrown out, and it is from Mr. Harbison's overcoat,
without a doubt."
Of course I should not have been surprised. A man who would kiss
a woman on a dark staircase--a woman he had known only two
days--was capable of anything.
"Kit has only been a little keener than the rest of us," Lollie
said. "She found him out yesterday."
"Upon my word," said Anne indignantly, preparing to go, "if I
didn't know you girls so well, I would think you were crazy. And
now, just to offset this, I can tell you something. Flannigan
told me this morning not to worry; that he has my pearl collar
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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: could round a part of the wood, and so come in behind the
Spaniards, where they stood, having a thicket of trees before them.
When the savages came on, they ran straggling about every way in
heaps, out of all manner of order, and Will Atkins let about fifty
of them pass by him; then seeing the rest come in a very thick
throng, he orders three of his men to fire, having loaded their
muskets with six or seven bullets apiece, about as big as large
pistol-bullets. How many they killed or wounded they knew not, but
the consternation and surprise was inexpressible among the savages;
they were frightened to the last degree to hear such a dreadful
noise, and see their men killed, and others hurt, but see nobody
Robinson Crusoe |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Lesser Hippias by Plato: as they are false, do you mean that they have or have not the power of
uttering their falsehoods if they like?
HIPPIAS: I mean to say that they have the power.
SOCRATES: In a word, then, the false are they who are wise and have the
power to speak falsely?
HIPPIAS: Yes.
SOCRATES: Then a man who has not the power of speaking falsely and is
ignorant cannot be false?
HIPPIAS: You are right.
SOCRATES: And every man has power who does that which he wishes at the
time when he wishes. I am not speaking of any special case in which he is
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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 Soul of a Bishop by H. G. Wells: tender faces, so soft in outline, so fresh and delicate in
texture and colour. They had soft credulous mouths. Some glanced
sideways at one another; some listened with a forced intentness.
The expression of one good-looking boy, sitting in a corner scat,
struck the bishop as being curiously defiant. He stood very
erect, he blinked his eyes as though they smarted, his lips were
compressed bitterly. And then it seemed to the bishop that the
Angel stood beside him and gave him understanding.
"He is here," the bishop knew, "because he could not avoid
coming. He tried to excuse himself. His mother wept. What could
he do? But the church's teaching nowadays fails even to grip the
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