| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum: "Easily enough," replied Glossie and Flossie.
Down to the edge of the roof they raced, and then, without pausing,
leaped through the air to the top of the next building, where a huge,
old-fashioned chimney stood.
"Don't be so long, this time," called Flossie, "or we shall never get
back to the Forest by daybreak."
Claus made a trip down this chimney also and found five children
sleeping in the house, all of whom were quickly supplied with toys.
When he returned the deer sprang to the next roof, but on descending
the chimney Claus found no children there at all. That was not often
the case in this village, however, so he lost less time than you might
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from In the Cage by Henry James: under the protection of Lady Ventnor, was after all so possible
CHAPTER IX
Meanwhile, since irritation sometimes relieved her, the betrothed
of Mr. Mudge found herself indebted to that admirer for amounts of
it perfectly proportioned to her fidelity. She always walked with
him on Sundays, usually in the Regent's Park, and quite often, once
or twice a month he took her, in the Strand or thereabouts, to see
a piece that was having a run. The productions he always preferred
were the really good ones--Shakespeare, Thompson or some funny
American thing; which, as it also happened that she hated vulgar
plays, gave him ground for what was almost the fondest of his
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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 Juana by Honore de Balzac: interview he ought to venture upon nothing that might frighten a young
girl so ignorantly pure, so imprudent by virtue rather than from
desire, postponed all further action to the future, relying on his
beauty, of which he knew the power, and on this innocent ring-
marriage, the hymen of the heart, the lightest, yet the strongest of
all ceremonies. For the rest of that night, and throughout the next
day, Juana's imagination was the accomplice of her passion.
On this first evening Montefiore forced himself to be as respectful as
he was tender. With that intention, in the interests of his passion
and the desires with which Juana inspired him, he was caressing and
unctuous in language; he launched the young creature into plans for a
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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 Caesar's Commentaries in Latin by Julius Caesar: oportere, frumentum in his locis in hiemem provisum non erat. Quibus
rebus cognitis, principes Britanniae, qui post proelium ad Caesarem
convenerant, inter se conlocuti, cum et equites et naves et frumentum
Romanis deesse intellegerent et paucitatem militum ex castrorum exiguitate
cognoscerent, quae hoc erant etiam angustior quod sine impedimentis Caesar
legiones transportaverat, optimum factu esse duxerunt rebellione facta
frumento commeatuque nostros prohibere et rem in hiemem producere, quod
his superatis aut reditu interclusis neminem postea belli inferendi causa
in Britanniam transiturum confidebant. Itaque rursus coniuratione facta
paulatim ex castris discedere et suos clam ex agris deducere coeperunt.
At Caesar, etsi nondum eorum consilia cognoverat, tamen et ex eventu
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