| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Desert Gold by Zane Grey: And I was away a good deal--working in another town. She was in love
with a wild fellow. I knew nothing of it till too late. He was engaged
to marry her. But he didn't come back. And when the disgrace became
plain to all, my girl left home. She went West. After a while I heard
from her. She was well--working--living for her baby. A long
time passed. I had no ties. I drifted West. Her lover had also
gone West. In those days everybody went West. I trailed him,
intending to kill him. But I lost his trail. Neither could I find
any trace of her. She had moved on, driven, no doubt, by the hound
of her past. Since then I have taken to the wilds, hunting gold
on the desert."
Desert Gold |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne: hole one foot only beneath the surface of the water. This hole was the
opening so long looked for in vain, and the force of the current was such
that the branch was torn from the engineer's hands and disappeared.
"There is no doubt about it now," repeated Harding. "There is the outlet,
and I will lay it open to view!"
"How?" asked Gideon Spilett.
"By lowering the level of the water of the lake three feet." "And how
will you lower the level?"
"By opening another outlet larger than this."
"At what place, Cyrus?"
"At the part of the bank nearest the coast."
The Mysterious Island |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Records of a Family of Engineers by Robert Louis Stevenson: the rock, the forge fire was also sooner extinguished this
morning than usual, and the volumes of smoke having ceased,
objects in every direction became visible from all parts of
the rock. After having had about three `hours' work, the men
began, pretty generally, to make towards their respective
boats for their jackets and stockings, when, to their
astonishment, instead of three, they found only two boats, the
third being adrift with the SMEATON. Not a word was uttered
by any one, but all appeared to be silently calculating their
numbers, and looking to each other with evident marks of
perplexity depicted in their countenances. The landing-
|
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 Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe: worked quite out, and made me a door to come out on the outside of
my pale or fortification. This gave me not only egress and
regress, as it was a back way to my tent and to my storehouse, but
gave me room to store my goods.
And now I began to apply myself to make such necessary things as I
found I most wanted, particularly a chair and a table; for without
these I was not able to enjoy the few comforts I had in the world;
I could not write or eat, or do several things, with so much
pleasure without a table: so I went to work. And here I must needs
observe, that as reason is the substance and origin of the
mathematics, so by stating and squaring everything by reason, and
Robinson Crusoe |
