| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Daisy Miller by Henry James: "Yes, formerly, more than once," said Winterbourne.
"You too, I suppose, have seen it?"
"No; we haven't been there. I want to go there dreadfully.
Of course I mean to go there. I wouldn't go away from here
without having seen that old castle."
"It's a very pretty excursion," said Winterbourne, "and very easy to make.
You can drive, you know, or you can go by the little steamer."
"You can go in the cars," said Miss Miller.
"Yes; you can go in the cars," Winterbourne assented.
"Our courier says they take you right up to the castle," the young
girl continued. "We were going last week, but my mother gave out.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Witch, et. al by Anton Chekhov: playing cards. . . . He called hearts diamonds, got muddled in
his score, and dropped his cards, then with a frightened, foolish
smile looked round at all of them.
"I shan't be a minute, mates, I'll . . ." he said, and lay down
on the floor.
Everybody was amazed. They called to him, he did not answer.
"Stephan, maybe you are feeling bad, eh?" the soldier with his
arm in a sling asked him. "Perhaps we had better bring the
priest, eh?"
"Have a drink of water, Stepan . . ." said the sailor. "Here,
lad, drink."
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Unseen World and Other Essays by John Fiske: the outer planets would be likely to have many moons, and that
Saturn, besides having the greatest number of moons, would be
likely to retain some of his inner rings unbroken; that the earth
would be likely to have a long day and Jupiter a short one; that
the extreme outer planets would be not unlikely to rotate in a
retrograde direction; and so on, through a long list of
interesting and striking details. Not only, therefore, are we
driven to the inference that our solar system was once a vaporous
nebula, but we find that the mere contraction of such a nebula,
under the influence of the enormous mutual gravitation of its
particles, carries with it the explanation of both the more
The Unseen World and Other Essays |
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 Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery: on you. I might as well call to the wind. She's gone without a
cap or wrap. Look at her tearing through the orchard with her
hair streaming. It'll be a mercy if she doesn't catch her death
of cold."
Anne came dancing home in the purple winter twilight across the
snowy places. Afar in the southwest was the great shimmering,
pearl-like sparkle of an evening star in a sky that was pale
golden and ethereal rose over gleaming white spaces and dark
glens of spruce. The tinkles of sleigh bells among the snowy
hills came like elfin chimes through the frosty air, but their
music was not sweeter than the song in Anne's heart and on her
Anne of Green Gables |
