| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Book of Remarkable Criminals by H. B. Irving: had she been strong enough, she would soon have done this
abominable deed herself. `God,' she added, `will forgive us
because He knows how poor we are.'" When he came to do the
murder, this determined woman plied her lover with brandy and put
rouge on his cheeks lest his pallor should betray him.[7]
[7] Case of Albert and the woman Lavoitte, Paris, 1877.
There are occasions when those feelings of compunction which
troubled Macbeth and his wife are wellnigh proof against the
utmost powers of suggestion, or, as in the case of Hubert and
Prince Arthur, compel the criminal to desist from his enterprise.
A man desires to get rid of his father and mother-in-law. By
A Book of Remarkable Criminals |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tales of the Klondyke by Jack London: "Must I, then, must I, then, now leave this town -
And you, my love, stay here?"--Schwabian Folk-song.
The singer, clean-faced and cheery-eyed, bent over and added water
to a pot of simmering beans, and then, rising, a stick of firewood
in hand, drove back the circling dogs from the grub-box and
cooking-gear. He was blue of eye, and his long hair was golden,
and it was a pleasure to look upon his lusty freshness. A new
moon was thrusting a dim horn above the white line of close-packed
snow-capped pines which ringed the camp and segregated it from all
the world. Overhead, so clear it was and cold, the stars danced
with quick, pulsating movements. To the southeast an evanescent
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain: fur as she could see; and so, as long as no harm hadn't
come of it, she judged she better put in her time being
grateful we was alive and well and she had us still, stead
of fretting over what was past and done. So then she
kissed me, and patted me on the head, and dropped
into a kind of a brown study; and pretty soon jumps
up, and says:
"Why, lawsamercy, it's most night, and Sid not
come yet! What HAS become of that boy?"
I see my chance; so I skips up and says:
"I'll run right up to town and get him," I says.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn |
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 Ruling Passion by Henry van Dyke: Dan Scott's lunch. After this they got on together finely. It was
the first time in his life that Pichou had ever spent twenty-four
hours away from other dogs; it was also the first time he had ever
been treated like a gentleman. All that was best in him responded
to the treatment. He could not have been more quiet and steady in
the boat if he had been brought up to a seafaring life. When Dan
Scott called him and patted him on the head, the dog looked up in
the man's face as if he had found his God. And the man, looking
down into the eye that was not disfigured by the black patch, saw
something that he had been seeking for a long time.
All day the wind was fair and strong from the southeast. The
|
