| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Dynamiter by Robert Louis Stevenson and Fanny Van De Grift Stevenson: man, so wildly were the wrecks of the tall forest piled
together by that fugitive convulsion. I crossed it indeed;
with such labour and patience, with so many dangerous slips
and falls, as left me, at the further side, bankrupt alike of
strength and courage. There I sat down awhile to recruit my
forces; and as I ate (how should I bless the kindliness of
Heaven!) my eye, flitting to and fro in the colonnade of the
great trees, alighted on a trunk that had been blazed. Yes,
by the directing hand of Providence, I had been conducted to
the very track I was to follow. With what a light heart I
now set forth, and walking with how glad a step, traversed
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Under the Andes by Rex Stout: passages as well as water.
Their silence remains inexplicable; but it was probably the
result of the nature of their surroundings. I have spoken before
of the innumerable echoes and reverberations that followed every
sound of the voice above a whisper. At times it was literally
deafening; and time may have made it so in reality.
The natural effect through many generations of this
inconvenience or danger would be the stoppage of speech, leading
possibly to a complete loss of the faculty. I am satisfied that
they were incapable of vocalization, for even the women did not
talk! But that is ahead of the story.
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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 Water-Babies by Charles Kingsley: always settling what was going to happen, would have nothing to do
with pretty Pandora and her box.
"But Epimetheus took her and it, as he took everything that came;
and married her for better for worse, as every man ought, whenever
he has even the chance of a good wife. And they opened the box
between them, of course, to see what was inside: for, else, of
what possible use could it have been to them?
"And out flew all the ills which flesh is heir to; all the children
of the four great bogies, Self-will, Ignorance, Fear, and Dirt -
for instance:
Measles, Famines,
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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 Lemorne Versus Huell by Elizabeth Drew Stoddard: endeavor to make an arrangement regarding the hire of a coach and
coachman. Several livery-stable keepers were in attendance, but
nothing was settled, till I suggested that Aunt Eliza should send
for her own carriage. James was sent back the next day, and
returned on Thursday with coach, horses, and William her coachman.
That matter being finished, and the trunks being unpacked, she
decided to take her first bath in the sea, expecting me to support
her through the trying ordeal of the surf. As we were returning
from the beach we met a carriage containing a number of persons
with a family resemblance.
When Aunt Eliza saw them she angrily exclaimed, "Am I to see
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