| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Koran: speaks the truth and he is of the liars; but if his shirt be rent from
behind, then she lies and he is of the truth tellers.'
And when he saw his shirt rent from behind he said, 'This is one
of your tricks; verily, your tricks are mighty! Joseph! turn aside
from this. And do thou, woman, ask pardon for thy fault; verily,
thou wert of the sinners.'
And women in the city said, 'The wife of the prince desires her
young man for his person; he has infatuated her with love: verily,
we see her in obvious error.' And when she heard of their
craftiness, she sent to them, and prepared for them a banquet, and
gave each of them a knife; and she said, 'Come forth to them!' And
The Koran |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Edingburgh Picturesque Notes by Robert Louis Stevenson: periphery, but stepping through it by the glow of his
internal fires. Such an one I remember, triply cased in
grease, whom no extremity of temperature could vanquish.
'Well,' would be his jovial salutation, 'here's a
sneezer!' And the look of these warm fellows is tonic,
and upholds their drooping fellow-townsmen. There is yet
another class who do not depend on corporal advantages,
but support the winter in virtue of a brave and merry
heart. One shivering evening, cold enough for frost but
with too high a wind, and a little past sundown, when the
lamps were beginning to enlarge their circles in the
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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 The Yates Pride by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman: Eudora nodded in a shamed, speechless sort of way.
"All right. I'll come Thursday -but say, look here, Eudora.
This is a quiet road, not a soul in sight, just like an outdoor
room to ourselves. Why shouldn't I know now just as well as wait?
Say, Eudora, you know how I used to feel about you. Well, it has
lasted all these years. There has never been another woman I
even cared to look at. You are alone, except for that baby, and
I am alone. Eudora --"
The man hesitated. His flushed face had paled. Eudora paced
silently and waveringly at his side.
"Eudora," the man went on, "you know you always used to run away
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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 Figure in the Carpet by Henry James: "That may help them," he conceded, "but we must give them time!"
I spoke of my own renewed assault and confessed my difficulties;
whereupon he repeated his former advice: "Give it up, give it up!"
He evidently didn't think me intellectually equipped for the
adventure. I stayed half an hour, and he was most good-natured,
but I couldn't help pronouncing him a man of unstable moods. He
had been free with me in a mood, he had repented in a mood, and now
in a mood he had turned indifferent. This general levity helped me
to believe that, so far as the subject of the tip went, there
wasn't much in it. I contrived however to make him answer a few
more questions about it, though he did so with visible impatience.
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