| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Tales and Fantasies by Robert Louis Stevenson: down, and over which there reigned all week, and grew denser
on Sundays, a silence that was agreeable to his ear, and a
gloom that he found comfortable.
Mrs. Nicholson had died about thirty, and left him with three
children: a daughter two years, and a son about eight years
younger than John; and John himself, the unlucky bearer of a
name infamous in English history. The daughter, Maria, was a
good girl - dutiful, pious, dull, but so easily startled that
to speak to her was quite a perilous enterprise. 'I don't
think I care to talk about that, if you please,' she would
say, and strike the boldest speechless by her unmistakable
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Grimm's Fairy Tales by Brothers Grimm: then they thought they would bury her: but her cheeks were still rosy;
and her face looked just as it did while she was alive; so they said,
'We will never bury her in the cold ground.' And they made a coffin of
glass, so that they might still look at her, and wrote upon it in
golden letters what her name was, and that she was a king's daughter.
And the coffin was set among the hills, and one of the dwarfs always
sat by it and watched. And the birds of the air came too, and bemoaned
Snowdrop; and first of all came an owl, and then a raven, and at last
a dove, and sat by her side.
And thus Snowdrop lay for a long, long time, and still only looked as
though she was asleep; for she was even now as white as snow, and as
Grimm's Fairy Tales |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Gentle Grafter by O. Henry: "One afternoon when we were busiest and I was stuffing the two and
ones into cigar boxes and Andy was whistling 'No Wedding Bells for
Her' a small slick man drops in and runs his eye over the walls like
he was on the trail of a lost Gainesborough painting or two. As soon
as I saw him I felt a glow of pride, because we were running our
business on the level.
"'I see you have quite a large mail to-day,' says the man.
"I reached and got my hat.
"'Come on,' says I. 'We've been expecting you. I'll show you the
goods. How was Teddy when you left Washington?'
"I took him down to the Riverview Hotel and had him shake hands with
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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 Tattine by Ruth Ogden [Mrs. Charles W. Ide]: ever did they come from, and how ever do you suppose they got there?"
"I think it's a good deal more important to know how you'll ever get them
out," answered Rudolph, who was of a practical turn of mind.
"I'll tell you what," said Tattine thoughtfully, "shouldn't wonder if they
belong to Betsy. I've seen her crowding herself through one of the air-holes
under the piazza several times lately," whereupon the children hurried to peer
through the air hole. Nothing was to be seen, however, for the piazza floor
was not more than a foot and a half from the ground, and it was filled with
all sorts of weeds that flourished without sunshine. Still the little puppy
cries were persistently wafted out from some remote corner, and, pulling off
his jacket, Rudolph started to crawl in and investigate. It did not seem
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