| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Footnote to History by Robert Louis Stevenson: OLGA, in the hope to beach his ship beside the NIPSIC. At a
quarter to eleven her stern took the reef, her hand swung to
starboard, and she began to fill and settle. Many lives of brave
men were sacrificed in the attempt to get a line ashore; the
captain, exhausted by his exertions, was swept from deck by a sea;
and the rail being soon awash, the survivors took refuge in the
tops.
Out of thirteen that had lain there the day before, there were now
but two ships afloat in Apia harbour, and one of these was doomed
to be the bane of the other. About 3 P.M. the TRENTON parted one
cable, and shortly after a second. It was sought to keep her head
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Lay Morals by Robert Louis Stevenson: ocean, unsounded, unvoyageable, an eternal mystery to man;
or, let us say, it is a monstrous and impassable mountain,
one side of which, and a few near slopes and foothills, we
can dimly study with these mortal eyes. But what any man can
say of it, even in his highest utterance, must have relation
to this little and plain corner, which is no less visible to
us than to him. We are looking on the same map; it will go
hard if we cannot follow the demonstration. The longest and
most abstruse flight of a philosopher becomes clear and
shallow, in the flash of a moment, when we suddenly perceive
the aspect and drift of his intention. The longest argument
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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 Chessmen of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: fellow peered carefully along the wall upon the outside in the
direction from which he had come. Evidently satisfied, he issued
a few words of instruction to those behind him, whereupon half
the warriors returned to the interior of the building, while the
other half followed the man stealthily through the gateway where
they crouched low among the shrubbery in a half circle just north
of the gateway which they had left open. Here they waited in
utter silence, nor had they long to wait before Turan the panthan
came cautiously along the base of the wall. To the very gate he
came and when he found it and that it was open he paused for a
moment, listening; then he approached and looked within. Assured
The Chessmen of Mars |
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 Pool in the Desert by Sara Jeanette Duncan: operation until one afternoon when she showed me the bold
counterfeit presentment of an Assistant Adjutant-General or some
such person, much flattered as to features but singularly faithful
in its reproduction of the straps and buttons attached. To my post
also there belongs a uniform and a cocked hat sufficiently dramatic,
but persons who serve the State primarily with the intelligence are
supposed to have a mind above buttons; and when I decided that my
photograph should compete with the Assistant Adjutant-General's, I
gave him every sartorial advantage. I gathered that the offer,
cabinet size, of this gentleman had been a spontaneous one; that
certainly could not be said of mine. Most unwillingly I turned one
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