| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Summer by Edith Wharton: patched panes and ran into pools on the floor.
Every now and then the kitten mewed and struggled down,
and the old woman stooped and caught it, holding it
tight in her bony hands; and once or twice the man on
the barrel half woke, changed his position and dozed
again, his head falling forward on his hairy breast. As
the minutes passed, and the rain still streamed against
the windows, a loathing of the place and the people
came over Charity. The sight of the weak-minded old
woman, of the cowed children, and the ragged man
sleeping off his liquor, made the setting of her own
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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 Mountains by Stewart Edward White: and went on. The warm furnace heat drew in on us
again. But it had been a cool little current of air, with
something of the sweetness of pines and water and
snow-banks in it. The Tenderfoot suddenly reined
in his horse and looked about him.
"Boys!" he cried, a new ring of joy in his voice,
"we're in the foot-hills!"
Wes calculated rapidly. "It's the eighth day
to-day: I guessed right on the time."
We stretched our arms and looked about us. They
were dry brown hills enough; but they were hills, and
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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 Exiles by Honore de Balzac: round Godefroid, and clasping him to his heart. "You are a poet; you
can boldly ride the whirlwind! Your poetry does not proceed from your
heart; your living, burning thoughts, your creations, move and grow in
your soul.--Go, never reveal your ideas to the vulgar! Be at once the
altar, the priest, and the victim!
"You know Heaven, do you not? You have seen those myriads of angels,
white-winged, and holding golden sistrums, all soaring with equal
flight towards the Throne, and you have often seen their pinions
moving at the breath of God as the trees of the forest bow with one
consent before the storm. Ah, how glorious is unlimited space! Tell
me."
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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 Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay: power. She was tall and slight, but slow in all her gestures and
movements. Her face was not beautiful. It was long, and palely
lighted, while the mouth crossed the lower half like a gash of fire.
The lips were as voluptuous as before. Her brows were heavy. There
was nothing vulgar in her - she looked the kingliest of all women.
She appeared not more than twenty-five.
Growing tired, apparently, of his scrutiny, she pushed him a little
way and allowed her arm to drop, at the same time curving her mouth
into a long, bowlike smile. "Whom have I to thank for this gift of
life?"
Her voice was rich, slow, and odd. Maskull felt himself in a dream.
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