| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Black Dwarf by Walter Scott: indignantly, and sometimes endeavoured to evade them, by saying,
with a forced laugh, "That Ratcliffe knew his own importance, but
that he was the most honest and skilful fellow in the world; and
that it would be impossible for him to manage his English affairs
without his advice and assistance." Such was the person who
entered the room at the moment Mr. Vere was summoning him to his
presence, and who now heard with surprise, mingled with obvious
incredulity, the hasty narrative of what had befallen Isabella.
Her father concluded, addressing Sir Frederick and the other
gentlemen, who stood around in astonishment, "And now, my
friends, you see the most unhappy father in Scotland. Lend me
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving: themselves. Thus, while the busy dame bustled about the house, or
plied her spinning-wheel at one end of the piazza, honest Balt
would sit smoking his evening pipe at the other, watching the
achievements of a little wooden warrior, who, armed with a sword
in each hand, was most valiantly fighting the wind on the
pinnacle of the barn. In the mean time, Ichabod would carry on
his suit with the daughter by the side of the spring under the
great elm, or sauntering along in the twilight, that hour so
favorable to the lover's eloquence.
I profess not to know how women's hearts are wooed and won.
To me they have always been matters of riddle and admiration.
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Early Short Fiction of Edith Wharton by Edith Wharton: in a long quiver to his facial muscles. He forced a laugh
through his dry throat. "Well--and what did he detect?"
"In you? Oh, he thinks it's overwork--overwork and too much
smoking. If you look in on him some day at his office he'll show
you the record of hundreds of cases like yours, and advise you
what treatment to follow. It's one of the commonest forms of
hallucination. Have a cigar, all the same."
"But, Allonby, I killed that man!"
The District Attorney's large hand, outstretched on his desk, had
an almost imperceptible gesture, and a moment later, as if an
answer to the call of an electric bell, a clerk looked in from
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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 The Altar of the Dead by Henry James: She had died of a malignant fever after the wedding-day had been
fixed, and he had lost before fairly tasting it an affection that
promised to fill his life to the brim.
Of that benediction, however, it would have been false to say this
life could really be emptied: it was still ruled by a pale ghost,
still ordered by a sovereign presence. He had not been a man of
numerous passions, and even in all these years no sense had grown
stronger with him than the sense of being bereft. He had needed no
priest and no altar to make him for ever widowed. He had done many
things in the world - he had done almost all but one: he had
never, never forgotten. He had tried to put into his existence
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