| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Early Short Fiction of Edith Wharton by Edith Wharton: "Xingu, of course!" exclaimed the latter with her accustomed
promptness, while Miss Van Vluyck and Laura Glyde seemed to be
plumbing the depths of memory, and Mrs. Leveret, feeling
apprehensively for Appropriate Allusions, was somehow reassured
by the uncomfortable pressure of its bulk against her person.
Osric Dane's change of countenance was no less striking than that
of her entertainers. She too put down her coffee-cup, but with a
look of distinct annoyance: she too wore, for a brief moment,
what Mrs. Roby afterward described as the look of feeling for
something in the back of her head; and before she could dissemble
these momentary signs of weakness, Mrs. Roby, turning to her with
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Complete Angler by Izaak Walton: ".
And if this hold in reason, as I see none to the contrary, then it may be
probably concluded, that Moses, who I told you before writ the book of
Job, and the Prophet Amos, who was a shepherd, were both Anglers;
for you shall, in all the Old Testament, find fish-hooks, I think but
twice mentioned, namely, by meek Moses the friend of God, and by the
humble prophet Amos.
Concerning which last, namely the prophet Amos, I shall make but this
observation, that he that shall read the humble, lowly, plain style of that
prophet, and compare it with the high, glorious, eloquent style of the
prophet Isaiah, though they be both equally true, may easily believe
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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 The Odyssey by Homer: to take rest. Now the steadfast goodly Odysseus went
through the hall, clad in a thick mist, which Athene shed
around him, till he came to Arete and the king Alcinous.
And Odysseus cast his hands about the knees of Arete, and
then it was that the wondrous mist melted from off him, and
a silence fell on them that were within the house at the
sight of him, and they marvelled as they beheld him. Then
Odysseus began his prayer:
'Arete, daughter of god-like Rhexenor, after many toils am
I come to thy husband and to thy knees and to these guests,
and may the gods vouchsafe them a happy life, and may each
The Odyssey |
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 Symposium by Plato: indeed, I cannot. But if you like to hear the truth about love, I am ready
to speak in my own manner, though I will not make myself ridiculous by
entering into any rivalry with you. Say then, Phaedrus, whether you would
like to have the truth about love, spoken in any words and in any order
which may happen to come into my mind at the time. Will that be agreeable
to you?
Aristodemus said that Phaedrus and the company bid him speak in any manner
which he thought best. Then, he added, let me have your permission first
to ask Agathon a few more questions, in order that I may take his
admissions as the premisses of my discourse.
I grant the permission, said Phaedrus: put your questions. Socrates then
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