| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Reason Discourse by Rene Descartes: established certain laws of nature, and had lent it his concurrence to
enable it to act as it is wont to do, it may be believed, without
discredit to the miracle of creation, that, in this way alone, things
purely material might, in course of time, have become such as we observe
them at present; and their nature is much more easily conceived when they
are beheld coming in this manner gradually into existence, than when they
are only considered as produced at once in a finished and perfect state.
From the description of inanimate bodies and plants, I passed to animals,
and particularly to man. But since I had not as yet sufficient knowledge
to enable me to treat of these in the same manner as of the rest, that is
to say, by deducing effects from their causes, and by showing from what
Reason Discourse |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Bucky O'Connor by William MacLeod Raine: either."
Mackenzie stopped, swallowed hard, and took a drink of water.
"You haven't seen your little girl in fifteen years," exclaimed
Bucky.
"Haven't seen or heard of her. So far as I know she may not be
alive now. This locket is the first hint I have had since she was
taken away, the very first news of her that has reached me, and I
don't know what to make of that. One of the robbers must have
been wearing it, the way I figure it out. Where did he get it?
That's what I want to know."
"Suppose you tell me the story, seh," suggested the ranger
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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 Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald: drive stayed for just a minute and then drove sulkily away. Wondering
if he were sick I went over to find out--an unfamiliar butler with a
villainous face squinted at me suspiciously from the door.
"Is Mr. Gatsby sick?"
"Nope." After a pause he added "sir." in a dilatory, grudging way.
"I hadn't seen him around, and I was rather worried. Tell him Mr. Carraway
came over."
"Who?" he demanded rudely.
"Carraway."
"Carraway. All right, I'll tell him." Abruptly he slammed the door.
My Finn informed me that Gatsby had dismissed every servant in his
The Great Gatsby |
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 New Arabian Nights by Robert Louis Stevenson: "I permit it to be so, Colonel Geraldine," returned Prince
Florizel. "Perhaps, for that very reason, you should be all the
more ready to accept my counsels. But enough. That girl in yellow
dances well."
And the talk veered into the ordinary topics of a Paris ballroom in
the Carnival.
Silas remembered where he was, and that the hour was already near
at hand when he ought to be upon the scene of his assignation. The
more he reflected the less he liked the prospect, and as at that
moment an eddy in the crowd began to draw him in the direction of
the door, he suffered it to carry him away without resistance. The
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