| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Letters from England by Elizabeth Davis Bancroft: Bancroft's, was a perfect gem. It was painted by the famous Rebecco
who came over from Italy to ornament so many of the great English
houses at one time. The whole ceiling and walls were covered with
beautiful designs and with gilding, and a beautiful recess for a
couch was supported by fluted gilded columns; the architraves and
mouldings of the doors were gilt, and the panels of the doors were
filled with Rebecco's beautiful designs. The chairs were of light
blue embroidered with thick, heavy gold, and all this bearing the
stamp of antiquity was a thousand times more interesting than mere
modern splendor. In the centre of the room was a toilet of white
muslin (universal here), and on it a gilt dressing-glass, which gave
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy: "No, no, now -- that's too much!" said the timid
man, becoming a man of brazen courage all of a sudden.
"I didn't say sir. I'll tike my oath I didn't say " Joseph
Poorgrass o' Weatherbury, sir." No, no; what's right
is right, and I never said sir to the bird, knowing very
well that no man of a gentleman's rank would be
hollering there at that time o' night." Joseph Poor-
grass of Weatherbury," -- that's every word I said, and
I shouldn't ha' said that if 't hadn't been for Keeper
Day's metheglin.... There, 'twas a merciful thing it
ended where it did."
Far From the Madding Crowd |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from End of the Tether by Joseph Conrad: wife of the senior partner in Gardner, Patteson, & Co.,
the owners of the Condor. It was she who volunteered
to look after the little one, and in due course took her
to England (something of a journey in those days,
even by the overland mail route) with her own girls to
finish her education. It was ten years before he saw her
again.
As a little child she had never been frightened of bad
weather; she would beg to be taken up on deck in the
bosom of his oilskin coat to watch the big seas hurling
themselves upon the Condor. The swirl and crash of the
End of the Tether |
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: remote ionization monitoring device detected a rapid increase in
radiation. Because of these two readings, all north shelter personnel
were immediately evacuated to the Base Camp, 25 kilometers to the
south. Film badges worn by personnel stationed at the north shelter,
however, showed no radiation exposure above the detectable level. It
was later discovered that the meter of the detector in the north
shelter had not retained its zero calibration setting, and radiation
at the north shelter had not reached levels high enough to result in
measurable exposures of the personnel who had been positioned there.
However, fallout activity was later detected in the north shelter
area, proof that part of the cloud did head in that direction. This
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