| 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: "Indeed! how came you, then," said Mr. Vere, "by the flippancy
of speech, and pertness of argument, by which you have disgusted
Sir Frederick, and given me of late such deep offence?"
"If my manner has been so unfortunate as to displease you, sir,
it is impossible for me to apologize too deeply, or too
sincerely; but I cannot confess the same contrition for having
answered Sir Frederick flippantly when he pressed me rudely.
Since he forgot I was a lady, it was time to show him that I am
at least a woman."
"Reserve, then, your pertness for those who press you on the
topic, Isabella," said her father coldly; "for my part, I am
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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 Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde: Let us go to the park."
"I am too shabby," he answered, frowning. "Only swell people go to the park."
"Nonsense, Jim," she whispered, stroking the sleeve of his coat.
He hesitated for a moment. "Very well," he said at last,
"but don't be too long dressing." She danced out of the door.
One could hear her singing as she ran upstairs. Her little feet
pattered overhead.
He walked up and down the room two or three times. Then he turned
to the still figure in the chair. "Mother, are my things ready?"
he asked.
"Quite ready, James," she answered, keeping her eyes on
The Picture of Dorian Gray |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Call of the Wild by Jack London: that he seemed a part of it, a woody excrescence upon the wood
itself.
As Buck slid along with the obscureness of a gliding shadow, his
nose was jerked suddenly to the side as though a positive force
had gripped and pulled it. He followed the new scent into a
thicket and found Nig. He was lying on his side, dead where he
had dragged himself, an arrow protruding, head and feathers, from
either side of his body.
A hundred yards farther on, Buck came upon one of the sled-dogs
Thornton had bought in Dawson. This dog was thrashing about in a
death-struggle, directly on the trail, and Buck passed around him
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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 Octopus by Frank Norris: you shall know each other as you are--know as you never knew
before. Your grain of wheat is your symbol of immortality. You
bury it in the earth. It dies, and rises again a thousand times
more beautiful. Vanamee, your dear girl was only a grain of
humanity that we have buried here, and the end is not yet. But
all this is so old, so old. The world learned it a thousand
years ago, and yet each man that has ever stood by the open grave
of any one he loved must learn it all over again from the
beginning."
Vanamee was silent for a moment, looking off with unseeing eyes
between the trunks of the pear trees, over the little valley.
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