| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates by Howard Pyle: taken down from the chimney places, and every preparation was
made to defend the place against the pirates, should they come
into the harbor and attempt to land.
But Blueskin did not come that day, nor did he come the next or
the next. But on the afternoon of the third the news went
suddenly flying over the town that the pirates were inside the
capes. As the report spread the people came running--men, women,
and children--to the green before the tavern, where a little knot
of old seamen were gathered together, looking fixedly out toward
the offing, talking in low voices. Two vessels, one bark-rigged,
the other and smaller a sloop, were slowly creeping up the bay, a
Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald: Isabelle and her mother drove into town at four, and they rode up
smiling Prospect Avenue, through the gay crowd, to have tea at
Cottage. The clubs had their annual dinners that night, so at
seven he loaned her to a freshman and arranged to meet her in the
gymnasium at eleven, when the upper classmen were admitted to the
freshman dance. She was all he had expected, and he was happy and
eager to make that night the centre of every dream. At nine the
upper classes stood in front of the clubs as the freshman
torchlight parade rioted past, and Amory wondered if the
dress-suited groups against the dark, stately backgrounds and
under the flare of the torches made the night as brilliant to the
This Side of Paradise |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Golden Sayings of Epictetus by Epictetus: Governor of Cnossus. You are not content to stay at home with
the honours you had before; you want something on a larger scale,
and more conspicuous. But when did you ever undertake a voyage
for the purpose of reviewing your own principles and getting rid
of any of them that proved unsound? Whom did you ever visit for
that object? What time did you ever set yourself for that? What
age? Run over the times of your life--by yourself, if you are
ashamed before me. Did you examine your principles when a boy?
Did you not do everything just as you do now? Or when you were a
stripling, attending the school of oratory and practising the art
yourself, what did you ever imagine you lacked? And when you were
The Golden Sayings of Epictetus |
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 Faraday as a Discoverer by John Tyndall: Whilst an apprentice, I, for amusement, learnt a little chemistry
and other parts of philosophy, and felt an eager desire to proceed
in that way further. After being a journeyman for six months,
under a disagreeable master, I gave up my business, and through
the interest of a Sir H. Davy, filled the situation of chemical
assistant to the Royal Institution of Great Britain, in which office
I now remain; and where I am constantly employed in observing the
works of nature, and tracing the manner in which she directs the
order and arrangement of the world. I have lately had proposals
made to me by Sir Humphry Davy to accompany him in his travels
through Europe and Asia, as philosophical assistant. If I go at all
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