| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Dreams by Olive Schreiner: ground was very hard, but out of it were sprouting tiny plants, and there
was a little stream running. He said, "This is a garden we are making, no
one else knows of it. We shine here every day; see, the ground has cracked
with our shining, and this little stream is bursting out. See, the flowers
are growing."
And he climbed on the rocks and picked from above two little flowers with
dew on them, and gave them to me. And I took one in each hand; my hands
shone as I held them. He said, "This garden is for all when it is
finished." And he went away to his companion, and I went out into the
great pathway.
And as I walked in the light I heard a loud sound of much singing. And
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson: that has lost its master, with a strange gnawing in my inwards,
and every now and then a movement of despair. It grew to be high
day at last, perhaps nine in the forenoon; and I was worn with
these wanderings, and chanced to have stopped in front of a very
good house on the landward side, a house with beautiful, clear
glass windows, flowering knots upon the sills, the walls
new-harled[33] and a chase-dog sitting yawning on the step like
one that was at home. Well, I was even envying this dumb brute,
when the door fell open and there issued forth a shrewd, ruddy,
kindly, consequential man in a well-powdered wig and spectacles.
I was in such a plight that no one set eyes on me once, but he
Kidnapped |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The $30,000 Bequest and Other Stories by Mark Twain: Four children with a house did burn,
Think of their awful agony.
Their mother she had gone away,
And left them there alone to stay;
The house took fire and down did burn;
Before their mother did return.
Their piteous cry the neighbors heard,
And then the cry of fire was given;
But, ah! before they could them reach,
Their little spirits had flown to heaven.
Their father he to war had gone,
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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 Emma McChesney & Co. by Edna Ferber: Mrs. McChesney, the straightforward, looked up, looked down,
fiddled with the letter in her hand.
"Well--practically yes--that is--I thought, now that you're
going to the mountains for a month, it might give me a chance to
think--to----"
"And d'you know what I'll do meanwhile, out of revenge on the
sex? I've just ordered three suits of white flannel, and I shall
break every feminine heart in the camp, regardless-- Oh, say,
that's what I came in to tell you! Guess whom I saw at the
tailor's?"
"Well, Mr. Bones, whom did you, and so forth?"
Emma McChesney & Co. |
