| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from In the Cage by Henry James: produce. But she kept hold of him throughout; she continued, for
herself, in a relation with him as close as that in which, behind
the hated ground glass, Mr. Buckton luckily continued with the
sounder. This morning everything changed, but rather to
dreariness; she had to swallow the rebuff to her theory about fatal
desires, which she did without confusion and indeed with absolute
levity; yet if it was now flagrant that he did live close at hand--
at Park Chambers--and belonged supremely to the class that wired
everything, even their expensive feelings (so that, as he never
wrote, his correspondence cost him weekly pounds and pounds, and he
might be in and out five times a day) there was, all the same,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs: "Ho, mates!" he cried. "What's here? This sign was not
posted an hour ago or I'll eat the cook."
The others gathered about, craning their necks over the
shoulders of those before them, but as few of them could
read at all, and then only after the most laborious fashion,
one finally turned to the little old man of the top hat and
frock coat.
"Hi, perfesser," he called, "step for'rd and read the
bloomin' notis."
Thus addressed, the old man came slowly to where the
sailors stood, followed by the other members of his party.
Tarzan of the Apes |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Before Adam by Jack London: poor shape for flight when Red-Eye cornered her near
the lair of the wild dogs, several miles south from the
caves. Usually, she would have circled around him,
beaten him in the straight-away, and gained the
protection of our small-mouthed cave. But she could
not circle him. She was too dull and slow. Each time
he headed her off, until she gave over the attempt and
devoted her energies wholly to keeping out of his
clutches.
Had she not been sick it would have been child's play
for her to elude him; but as it was, it required all
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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 A treatise on Good Works by Dr. Martin Luther: been commanded him. Such perversity no bishop forbids, no
preacher corrects; nay, for covetousness' sake they confirm it
and daily only invent more pilgrimages, elevations of saints,
indulgence-fairs. God have pity on such blindness.
VI. On the other hand, parents cannot earn eternal punishment in
any way more easily than by neglecting their own children in
their own home, and not teaching them the things which have been
spoken of above. Of what help is it, that they kill themselves
with fasting, praying, making pilgrimages, and do all manner of
good works? God will, after all, not ask them about these things
at their death and in the day of judgment, but will require of
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