| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Persuasion by Jane Austen: A lady, without a family, was the very best preserver of furniture
in the world. He had seen Mrs Croft, too; she was at Taunton
with the admiral, and had been present almost all the time they were
talking the matter over.
"And a very well-spoken, genteel, shrewd lady, she seemed to be,"
continued he; "asked more questions about the house, and terms,
and taxes, than the Admiral himself, and seemed more conversant
with business; and moreover, Sir Walter, I found she was not quite
unconnected in this country, any more than her husband; that is to say,
she is sister to a gentleman who did live amongst us once;
she told me so herself: sister to the gentleman who lived
Persuasion |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin: completely virtuous, was not sufficient to prevent our slipping;
and that the contrary habits must be broken, and good ones acquired
and established, before we can have any dependence on a steady,
uniform rectitude of conduct. For this purpose I therefore contrived
the following method.
In the various enumerations of the moral virtues I had met
with in my reading, I found the catalogue more or less numerous,
as different writers included more or fewer ideas under the same name.
Temperance, for example, was by some confined to eating and drinking,
while by others it was extended to mean the moderating every
other pleasure, appetite, inclination, or passion, bodily or mental,
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Voice of the City by O. Henry: Jim" Dougherty.
The habitat of the sport is the lobby or the outside
corner of certain -hotels and combination restaurants
and cafes. They are mostly men of different sizes,
running from small to large; but they are unanimous
in the possession of a recently shaven, blue-black
cheek and chin and dark overcoats (in season) with
black velvet collars.
Of the domestic life of the sport little is known. It
has been said that Cupid and Hymen sometimes take
a band in the game and copper the queen of hearts to
The Voice of the City |
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 Children of the Night by Edwin Arlington Robinson: To have left her, then and there -- to have conquered
That old false life with a new and a wiser, --
Such things are easy in words. You listen,
And frown, I suppose, that I never mention
That beautiful word, FORGIVE! -- I forgave her
First of all; and I praised kind Heaven
That I was a brave, clean man to do it;
And then I tried to forget. Forgiveness!
What does it mean when the one forgiven
Shivers and weeps and clings and kisses
The credulous fool that holds her, and tells him
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