| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Wife, et al by Anton Chekhov: Anger surged up in his heart against her, and he thought
malignantly:
"She knows nothing about money, and so she is stingy. If she won
it she would give me a hundred roubles, and put the rest away
under lock and key."
And he looked at his wife, not with a smile now, but with hatred.
She glanced at him too, and also with hatred and anger. She had
her own daydreams, her own plans, her own reflections; she
understood perfectly well what her husband's dreams were. She
knew who would be the first to try and grab her winnings.
"It's very nice making daydreams at other people's expense!" is
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Pierrette by Honore de Balzac: Pierrette was determined to keep silence,--a resolution that is
perfectly explicable. It is easy to see how her thoughts turned to
Brigaut, fearing some danger for him if he were discovered, yet
instinctively longing to have him near her, and happy in knowing he
was in Provins. What joy to have seen him! That single glimpse was
like the look an exile casts upon his country, or the martyr lifts to
heaven, where his eyes, gifted with second-sight, can enter while
flames consume his body.
Pierrette's glance had been so thoroughly understood by the major's
son that, as he planed his planks or took his measures or joined his
wood, he was working his brains to find out some way of communicating
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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 Amazing Interlude by Mary Roberts Rinehart: Maurice went away, with a civil good night. Sara Lee stood in the
doorway after he had gone, looking out. Farther along the line there
was a bombardment going on. She knew now what a bombardment meant and
her brows contracted. Somewhere there in the trenches men were enduring
that, while Henri -
She said a little additional prayer that night, which was that she
should have courage to say to him what she felt - that there were big
things to do, and that it should not all be left to these smiling,
ill-clad peasant soldiers.
At that moment Henri, in his gray-green uniform, was cutting wire before
a German trench, one of a party of German soldiers, who could not know
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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 Miracle Mongers and Their Methods by Harry Houdini: who had probably not received the share
of the profits to which they thought
themselves entitled. Their somewhat
circumstantial account runs as follows.
To prepare his body for so hardy a task,
before he makes his appearance on the
stage, he takes a pill about the quantity of
a hazel nut, confected with the gall of an
heifer, and wheat flour baked. After
which he drinks privately in his chamber
four or five pints of luke-warm water, to
Miracle Mongers and Their Methods |
