| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Malbone: An Oldport Romance by Thomas Wentworth Higginson: to pieces before morning. No one would risk being the first to
take the water, and he had at last volunteered, as being the
best swimmer, on condition that Emilia should be next sent,
when the communication was established.
Two ropes were then hauled on board the vessel, a larger and a
smaller. By the flickering firelight and the rarer flashes of
lightning (the rain now falling in torrents) they saw a hammock
slung to the larger rope; a woman's form was swathed in it; and
the smaller rope being made fast to this, they found by pulling
that she could be drawn towards the shore. Those on board
steadied the hammock as it was lowered from the ship, but the
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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 Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table by Oliver Wendell Holmes: Floats the great Leveller's crimson fold!
Come to my arms! - love heeds not years
No frost the bud of passion knows. -
Ha! what is this my frenzy hears?
A voice behind me uttered, - Rose!
Sweet was her smile, - but not for me;
Alas, when woman looks TOO kind,
Just turn your foolish head and see, -
Some youth is walking close behind!
As to GIVING UP because the almanac or the Family-Bible says that
it is about time to do it, I have no intention of doing any such
The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Passion in the Desert by Honore de Balzac: "Quite the reverse; we can communicate to them all the vices arising
in our own state of civilization."
She looked at me with an air of astonishment.
"But," I continued, "the first time I saw M. Martin, I admit, like
you, I did give vent to an exclamation of surprise. I found myself
next to an old soldier with the right leg amputated, who had come in
with me. His face had struck me. He had one of those heroic heads,
stamped with the seal of warfare, and on which the battles of Napoleon
are written. Besides, he had that frank, good-humored expression which
always impresses me favorably. He was without doubt one of those
troopers who are surprised at nothing, who find matter for laughter in
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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 The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie: than he expected. Caught in the act, and somewhat flurried he
hastily shuts and locks his desk. He fears that if he remains in
the room he may have to open it again, and that Mrs. Inglethorp
might catch sight of the letter before he could snatch it up. So
he goes out and walks in the woods, little dreaming that Mrs.
Inglethorp will open his desk, and discover the incriminating
document.
"But this, as we know, is what happened. Mrs. Inglethorp reads
it, and becomes aware of the perfidy of her husband and Evelyn
Howard, though, unfortunately, the sentence about the bromides
conveys no warning to her mind. She knows that she is in
The Mysterious Affair at Styles |
