| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Heroes by Charles Kingsley: with music and the gentle laws of Zeus. And now I must go
out again, to the ends of all the earth, far away into the
misty darkness, to the last wave of the Eastern Sea. But
what is doomed must be, and a friend's demand obeyed; for
prayers are the daughters of Zeus, and who honours them
honours him.'
Then Orpheus rose up sighing, and took his harp, and went
over Strymon. And he led Jason to the south-west, up the
banks of Haliacmon and over the spurs of Pindus, to Dodona
the town of Zeus, where it stood by the side of the sacred
lake, and the fountain which breathed out fire, in 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 Ruling Passion by Henry van Dyke: canoe. He could hunt the bear, the lynx, the carcajou. I suppose
all these men,--marquises and counts and barons,--I suppose they all
lived hard, and slept on the ground, and used the axe and the paddle
when they came to the woods. It is not the fine coat that makes the
noble. It is the good blood, the adventure, the brave heart."
"Magnificent!" thought Alden. "It is the real thing, a bit of the
seventeenth century lost in the forest for two hundred years. It is
like finding an old rapier beside an Indian trail. I suppose the
fellow may be the descendant of some gay young lieutenant of the
regiment Carignan-Salieres, who came out with De Tracy, or
Courcelles. An amour with the daughter of a habitant,--a name taken
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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 Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson:
Treasure Island |
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 Flower Fables by Louisa May Alcott: The light and perfume of the flower seemed to bring new strength
to Annie, and she rose up, saying, as she bent to kiss the blossom
on her breast, "Dear flower, help and guide me now, and I will listen
to your voice, and cheerfully obey my faithful fairy bell."
Then in her dream she felt how hard the spirits tried to tempt
and trouble her, and how, but for her flower, they would have led
her back, and made all dark and dreary as before. Long and hard
she struggled, and tears often fell; but after each new trial,
brighter shone her magic flower, and sweeter grew its breath, while
the spirits lost still more their power to tempt her. Meanwhile,
green, flowering vines crept up the high, dark wall, and hid its
Flower Fables |
