| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Tanach: Genesis 41: 44 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph: 'I am Pharaoh, and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or his foot in all the land of Egypt.'
Genesis 41: 45 And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphenath-paneah; and he gave him to wife Asenath the daughter of Poti-phera priest of On. And Joseph went out over the land of Egypt.--
Genesis 41: 46 And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. --And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt.
Genesis 41: 47 And in the seven years of plenty the earth brought forth in heaps.
Genesis 41: 48 And he gathered up all the food of the seven years which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities; the food of the field, which was round about every city, laid he up in the same.
Genesis 41: 49 And Joseph laid up corn as the sand of the sea, very much, until they left off numbering; for it was without number.
Genesis 41: 50 And unto Joseph were born two sons before the year of famine came, whom Asenath the daughter of Poti-phera priest of On bore unto him.
Genesis 41: 51 And Joseph called the name of the first-born Manasseh: 'for God hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father's house.'
Genesis 41: 52 And the name of the second called he Ephraim: 'for God hath made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.'
Genesis 41: 53 And the seven years of plenty, that was in the land of Egypt, came to an end.
 The Tanach |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from McTeague by Frank Norris: twenty-dollar gold pieces as before. From that time Trina
began to draw steadily upon her capital, a little at a time.
It was a passion with her, a mania, a veritable mental
disease; a temptation such as drunkards only know.
It would come upon her all of a sudden. While she was about
her work, scrubbing the floor of some vacant house; or in
her room, in the morning, as she made her coffee on the oil
stove, or when she woke in the night, a brusque access
of cupidity would seize upon her. Her cheeks flushed, her
eyes glistened, her breath came short. At times she would
leave her work just as it was, put on her old bonnet of
 McTeague |