| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Lay Morals by Robert Louis Stevenson: so much more grossly and so much more intimately palpable to
his perceptions, that they stand between him and all the
rest; they are larger to his eye than the sun, he hears them
more plainly than thunder, with them, by them, and for them,
he must live and die. And hence the laws that affect his
intercourse with his fellow-men, although merely customary
and the creatures of a generation, are more clearly and
continually before his mind than those which bind him into
the eternal system of things, support him in his upright
progress on this whirling ball, or keep up the fire of his
bodily life. And hence it is that money stands in the first
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne: and this merely because he had travelled constantly eastward; he would,
on the contrary, have lost a day had he gone in the opposite direction,
that is, westward.
In journeying eastward he had gone towards the sun, and the days therefore
diminished for him as many times four minutes as he crossed degrees
in this direction. There are three hundred and sixty degrees
on the circumference of the earth; and these three hundred and sixty degrees,
multiplied by four minutes, gives precisely twenty-four hours--that is,
the day unconsciously gained. In other words, while Phileas Fogg,
going eastward, saw the sun pass the meridian eighty times,
his friends in London only saw it pass the meridian seventy-nine times.
Around the World in 80 Days |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Camille by Alexandre Dumas: I saw before me a square of flowers which one would never have
taken for a grave, if it had not been for a white marble slab
bearing a name.
The marble slab stood upright, an iron railing marked the limits
of the ground purchased, and the earth was covered with white
camellias. "What do you say to that?" said the gardener.
"It is beautiful."
"And whenever a camellia fades, I have orders to replace it."
"Who gave you the order?"
"A young gentleman, who cried the first time he came here; an old
pal of hers, I suppose, for they say she was a gay one. Very
Camille |
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 Bucky O'Connor by William MacLeod Raine: under control, and a quiet wariness of eye more potent than words
at repressing insurgent impulses. Certainly if ever there was a
cool customer and one perfectly sure of himself, this was he.
"Not a thing in the Star to-day," Pat's visitor commented, as he
flung it away with a yawn. "I'll let a thousand dollars of the
express company's money that there will be something more
interesting in it to-morrow."
"That's right," agreed the agent.
"But I won't be here to read it. My engagements take me south.
I'll make a present to the great Lieutenant O'Connor of the
information. We're headed south, tell him. And tell Mr. Sheriff
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