| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Mansion by Henry van Dyke: gradually out of
many minor paths; little footways coming across the meadows,
winding tracks following along beside the streams, faintly marked
trails
emerging from the woodlands. But on the hillside the threads
were more
firmly woven into one clear band of travel, though there were
still
a few dim paths joining it here and there, as if persons had been
climbing up the hill by other ways and had turned at last to seek
the road.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Collection of Beatrix Potter by Beatrix Potter: swallowed a patty-pan! Oh, my
dear Ribby, I do feel so ill!"
"It is impossible, my dear
Duchess; there was not a patty-pan."
Duchess moaned and whined
and rocked herself about.
"Oh I feel so dreadful. I have
swallowed a patty-pan!"
"There was NOTHING in the pie,"
said Ribby severely.
"Yes there WAS, my dear Ribby,
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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 Tales of the Klondyke by Jack London: went on to Fort Pierre. Then we took east, the girl and I, to the
hills and forests, and we lived one with the other, and we were
not married,--the work of the good church which I love like a son.
"But mark you, for this is the strangeness of woman, the way of
which no man may understand. One of the saddles I emptied was
that of her father's, and the hoofs of those who came behind had
pounded him into the earth. This we saw, the girl and I, and this
I had forgot had she not remembered. And in the quiet of the
evening, after the day's hunt were done, it came between us, and
in the silence of the night when we lay beneath the stars and
should have been one. It was there always. She never spoke, but
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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 Tik-Tok of Oz by L. Frank Baum: N. B.--This Mechanism is guaranteed to
work perfectly for a thousand years.
"If he's guaranteed for a thousand years," said
Polychrome, "he ought to work yet."
"Of course," replied Shaggy. "Let's wind him up."
In order to do this they were obliged to set the
copper man upon his feet, in an upright position,
and this was no easy task. He was inclined to
topple over, and had to be propped again and
again. The girls assisted Shaggy, and at last Tik-
Tok seemed to be balanced and stood alone upon his
 Tik-Tok of Oz |