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: nor found time for rough discourtesy. So quietly did the little stream drip
and ripple its way through the canyon that it spoke only in faint and
occasional gurgles. The voice of the stream was as a drowsy whisper, ever
interrupted by dozings and silences, ever lifted again in the awakenings.
The motion of all things was a drifting in the heart of the canyon. Sunshine
and butterflies drifted in and out among the trees. The hum of the bees and
the whisper of the stream were a drifting of sound. And the drifting sound and
drifting color seemed to weave together in the making of a delicate and
intangible fabric which was the spirit of the place. It was a spirit of peace
that was not of death, but of smooth-pulsing life, of quietude that was not
silence, of movement that was not action, of repose that was quick with
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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 Girl with the Golden Eyes by Honore de Balzac: me, but I jumped a hedge without moving on my horse!"
Or again:
"We were with some women, De Marsay and I, and upon my word of honor,
I was----" etc.
Thus Paul de Manerville could not be classed amongst the great,
illustrious, and powerful family of fools who succeed. He would one
day be a deputy. For the time he was not even a young man. His friend,
De Marsay, defined him thus: "You ask me what is Paul? Paul? Why, Paul
de Manerville!"
"I am surprised, my dear fellow," he said to De Marsay, "to see you
here on a Sunday."
The Girl with the Golden Eyes |
The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen: door to the left, in another long reach of gallery,
when the general, coming forwards, called her hastily, and,
as Catherine thought, rather angrily back, demanding whether
she were going?--And what was there more to be seen?--Had
not Miss Morland already seen all that could be worth
her notice?--And did she not suppose her friend might be
glad of some refreshment after so much exercise? Miss
Tilney drew back directly, and the heavy doors were
closed upon the mortified Catherine, who, having seen,
in a momentary glance beyond them, a narrower passage,
more numerous openings, and symptoms of a winding staircase,
Northanger Abbey |
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 Bunner Sisters by Edith Wharton: sweet sad smile about which they had woven many histories; but even
the news of her return to town--it was her first apparition that
year--failed to arouse Ann Eliza's interest. All the small daily
happenings which had once sufficed to fill the hours now appeared
to her in their deadly insignificance; and for the first time in
her long years of drudgery she rebelled at the dullness of her
life. With Evelina such fits of discontent were habitual and
openly proclaimed, and Ann Eliza still excused them as one of the
prerogatives of youth. Besides, Evelina had not been intended by
Providence to pine in such a narrow life: in the original plan of
things, she had been meant to marry and have a baby, to wear silk
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