| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from King James Bible: captain: howbeit he attained not unto the first three.
SA2 23:20 And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man, of
Kabzeel, who had done many acts, he slew two lionlike men of Moab: he
went down also and slew a lion in the midst of a pit in time of snow:
SA2 23:21 And he slew an Egyptian, a goodly man: and the Egyptian had a
spear in his hand; but he went down to him with a staff, and plucked the
spear out of the Egyptian's hand, and slew him with his own spear.
SA2 23:22 These things did Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and had the
name among three mighty men.
SA2 23:23 He was more honourable than the thirty, but he attained not
to the first three. And David set him over his guard.
King James Bible |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle: "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been
watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a
shadow pass over his face as I spoke.
"'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a
little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam,
ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your
hair?'
"'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly.
"'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a
pity, because in other respects you would really have done very
nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Old Indian Legends by Zitkala-Sa: two, three times and lo! the eagle tumbled from the great height
and fell heavily to the earth. An arrow stuck in his breast! He
was dead!
So quick was the hand of the avenger, so sure his sight, that
no one had seen the arrow fly from his long bent bow.
In awe and amazement the village was dumb. And when the
avenger, plucking a red eagle feather, placed it in his black hair,
a loud shout of the people went up to the sky. Then hither and
thither ran singing men and women making a great feast for the
avenger.
Thus he won the beautiful Indian princess who never tired of
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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 Case of the Golden Bullet by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner: "And you believe it?"
"That man will keep his promise," said Muller quietly.
Councillor Kniepp did keep his promise. When the police arrived at
the hunting castle shortly after midnight, they found the terrified
servants standing by the body of their master.
"Well, Muller, you had better luck than you deserved this time,"
Bauer said a few days later. "This last trick has made you quite
impossible for the service. But you needn't worry about that,
because the legacy Kniepp left you will put you out of reach of
want."
The detective was as much surprised as anybody. He was as if dazed
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