| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Moon-Face and Other Stories by Jack London: of the hole of loose dirt. He attacked the crumbling quartz with the pick,
bursting the disintegrating rock asunder with every stroke.
He thrust his shovel into the loose mass. His eye caught a gleam of yellow. He
dropped the shovel and squatted suddenly on his heels. As a farmer rubs the
clinging earth from fresh-dug potatoes, so the man, a piece of rotten quartz
held in both hands, rubbed the dirt away.
"Sufferin' Sardanopolis!" he cried. "Lumps an' chunks of it! Lumps an' chunks
of it!"
It was only half rock he held in his hand. The other half was virgin gold. He
dropped it into his pan and examined another piece. Little yellow was to be
seen, but with his strong fingers he crumbled the rotten quartz away till both
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Maria, or the Wrongs of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft: sorrow at hearing of my pregnancy, having determined to prevail on
me to accompany him, till I informed him of that circumstance. He
expressed himself unfeignedly sorry that any new tie should bind
me to a man whom he thought so incapable of estimating my value;
such was the kind language of affection.
"I must repeat his own words; they made an indelible impression
on my mind:
"'The marriage state is certainly that in which women, generally
speaking, can be most useful; but I am far from thinking that a
woman, once married, ought to consider the engagement as indissoluble
(especially if there be no children to reward her for sacrificing
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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 Mrs. Warren's Profession by George Bernard Shaw: you do. [Praed, with a grave shake of his head, walks up the
garden with his hands behind his back. Mrs Warren pretends to
laugh, but looks after him with perceptible concern. Then, she
whispers to Crofts] Whats the matter with him? What does he take
it like that for?
CROFTS [morosely] Youre afraid of Praed.
MRS WARREN. What! Me! Afraid of dear old Praddy! Why, a fly
wouldnt be afraid of him.
CROFTS. Y o u r e afraid of him.
MRS WARREN [angry] I'll trouble you to mind your own business,
and not try any of your sulks on me. I'm not afraid of y o u,
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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 Europeans by Henry James: staring up at the sky; so that the Baroness was able to reflect,
at her leisure, upon the question of his identity.
It was that of a person who had lately been much in her thoughts;
but her first impulse, nevertheless, was to turn away; the last thing
she desired was to have the air of coming in quest of Robert Acton.
The gentleman on the grass, however, gave her no time to decide;
he could not long remain unconscious of so agreeable a presence.
He rolled back his eyes, stared, gave an exclamation, and then jumped up.
He stood an instant, looking at her.
"Excuse my ridiculous position," he said.
"I have just now no sense of the ridiculous. But, in case you have,
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