| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Koran: what they do.
And say to the believing women that they cast down their looks and
guard their private parts, and display not their ornaments, except
those which are outside; and let them pull their kerchiefs over
their bosoms and not display their ornaments save to their husbands
and fathers, or the fathers of their husbands, or their sons, or the
sons of their husbands, or their brothers, or their brothers' sons, or
their sisters' sons, or their women, or what their right hands
possess, or their male attendants who are incapable, or to children
who do not note women's nakedness; and that they beat not with their
feet that their hidden ornaments may be known;-but turn ye all
The Koran |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Lost Continent by Edgar Rice Burroughs: in the service.
At twenty I found myself a lieutenant in command of the
aero-submarine Coldwater, of the SS-96 class. The Coldwater
was one of the first of the air and underwater craft which
have been so greatly improved since its launching, and was
possessed of innumerable weaknesses which, fortunately, have
been eliminated in more recent vessels of similar type.
Even when I took command, she was fit only for the junk
pile; but the world-old parsimony of government retained her
in active service, and sent two hundred men to sea in her,
with myself, a mere boy, in command of her, to patrol thirty
Lost Continent |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Moby Dick by Herman Melville: disgust. I will not strip these men, thought Ahab, of all hopes of
cash--aye, cash. They may scorn cash now; but let some months go by,
and no perspective promise of it to them, and then this same
quiescent cash all at once mutinying in them, this same cash would
soon cashier Ahab.
Nor was there wanting still another precautionary motive more related
to Ahab personally. Having impulsively, it is probable, and perhaps
somewhat prematurely revealed the prime but private purpose of the
Pequod's voyage, Ahab was now entirely conscious that, in so doing,
he had indirectly laid himself open to the unanswerable charge of
usurpation; and with perfect impunity, both moral and legal, his crew
Moby Dick |
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 Yates Pride by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman: china vase on the table. The roses were very fragrant, and
immediately the whole room was possessed by them.
A tiny, insistent cry came from a corner, and Lawton and Eudora
turned toward it. There stood the old wooden cradle in which
Eudora had been rocked to sleep, but over the clumsy hood Eudora
had tacked a fall of rich old lace and a great bow of soft pink
satin.
"He is waking up," said the man, in a hushed, almost reverent
voice.
Eudora nodded. She went toward the cradle, and the man followed.
She lifted the curtain of lace, and there became visible little
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