| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Young Forester by Zane Grey: decided to break camp, but there was no move to pack.
The morning quiet was suddenly split by the stinging crack of a rifle and a
yell of agony.
Buell leaped to his feet, his ruddy face white.
"Greaser!" he exclaimed.
"Thet was about where Greaser cashed," relied Bill, coolly knocking the
ashes from his pipe.
"No, Bill, you're wrong. Here comes Greaser, runnin' like an Indian."
"Look at the blood! He's been plugged, all right!" exclaimed Herky-Jerky.
The sound of running feet drew nearer, and suddenly the group at the door
broke to admit the Mexican. One side of his terrified face was covered with
The Young Forester |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Jungle Tales of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs: of differentiating one stench from another and locating
with remarkable precision the source from whence it came.
He knew that a man was following him and coming closer,
and his judgment warned him of the purpose of the stalker.
When Mbonga, therefore, came within spear range
of the ape-man, the latter suddenly wheeled upon him,
so suddenly that the poised spear was shot a fraction
of a second before Mbonga had intended. It went a trifle
high and Tarzan stooped to let it pass over his head;
then he sprang toward the chief. But Mbonga did not wait
to receive him. Instead, he turned and fled for the dark
The Jungle Tales of Tarzan |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from King James Bible: field of Joshua, the Bethshemite.
SA1 6:19 And he smote the men of Bethshemesh, because they had looked
into the ark of the LORD, even he smote of the people fifty thousand and
threescore and ten men: and the people lamented, because the LORD had
smitten many of the people with a great slaughter.
SA1 6:20 And the men of Bethshemesh said, Who is able to stand before
this holy LORD God? and to whom shall he go up from us?
SA1 6:21 And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kirjathjearim,
saying, The Philistines have brought again the ark of the LORD; come ye
down, and fetch it up to you.
SA1 7:1 And the men of Kirjathjearim came, and fetched up the ark of
King James Bible |
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 Dream Life and Real Life by Olive Schreiner: though she were going away from the fireplace, then she turned and said:
"Have you thought of what love is between a man and a woman when it means
marriage? That long, long life together, day after day, stripped of all
romance and distance, living face to face: seeing each other as a man sees
his own soul? Do you realize that the end of marriage is to make the man
and woman stronger than they were; and that if you cannot, when you are an
old man and woman and sit by the fire, say, 'Life has been a braver and a
freer thing for us, because we passed it hand in hand, than if we had
passed through it alone,' it has failed? Do you care for him enough to
live for him, not tomorrow, but when he is an old, faded man, and you an
old, faded woman? Can you forgive him his sins and his weaknesses, when
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