| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Sentimental Journey by Laurence Sterne: pocket; - You know not what she is, said Caution; - or what scrapes
the affair may draw you into, whisper'd Cowardice. -
Depend upon it, Yorick! said Discretion, 'twill be said you went
off with a mistress, and came by assignation to Calais for that
purpose; -
- You can never after, cried Hypocrisy aloud, show your face in the
world; - or rise, quoth Meanness, in the church; - or be any thing
in it, said Pride, but a lousy prebendary.
But 'tis a civil thing, said I; - and as I generally act from the
first impulse, and therefore seldom listen to these cabals, which
serve no purpose, that I know of, but to encompass the heart with
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from 1984 by George Orwell: great-grandmother to a month-old baby, going out to spend an afternoon
with 'in-laws' in the country, and, as they freely explained to Winston,
to get hold of a little blackmarket butter.
The lane widened, and in a minute he came to the footpath she had told him
of, a mere cattle-track which plunged between the bushes. He had no watch,
but it could not be fifteen yet. The bluebells were so thick underfoot
that it was impossible not to tread on them. He knelt down and began
picking some partly to pass the time away, but also from a vague idea that
he would like to have a bunch of flowers to offer to the girl when they
met. He had got together a big bunch and was smelling their faint sickly
scent when a sound at his back froze him, the unmistakable crackle of a
1984 |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Twilight Land by Howard Pyle: cranny as bright as day, and there at one end of the room upon a
couch, with her eyelids closed and fast asleep, lay the prettiest
princess that ever the sun shone upon. The soldier stood and
looked and looked at her, and looked and looked at her, until his
heart melted within him like soft butter, and then he kissed her.
"Who is that?" said the princess, starting up, wide-awake, but
not a soul could she see, because the soldier had the feather cap
upon his head.
"It is I," said he, "and I am King of the Wind, and ten times
greater than the greatest of kings here below. One day I saw you
walking in your garden and fell in love with you, and now I have
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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 U. S. Project Trinity Report by Carl Maag and Steve Rohrer: the first nuclear detonation. A plutonium-fueled implosion device was
detonated on 16 July 1945 at the Alamogordo Bombing Range in
south-central New Mexico.
Three weeks later, on 6 August, the first uranium-fueled nuclear bomb,
a gun-type weapon code-named LITTLE BOY, was detonated over the
Japanese city of Hiroshima. On 9 August, the FAT MAN nuclear bomb, a
plutonium-fueled implosion weapon identical to the TRINITY device, was
detonated over another Japanese city, Nagasaki. Two days later, the
Japanese Government informed the United States of its decision to end
the war. On 2 September 1945, the Japanese Empire officially
surrendered to the Allied Governments, bringing World War II to an
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