| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Chinese Boy and Girl by Isaac Taylor Headland:
She yielded to the Cow-herd and soon became his wife,
and as the years passed by a boy and girl were born to them,
little star children, twins, such as are seen near by the
Spinning Girl in her heavenly home to-day.
One day she went to her husband, and, bowing low, requested that
he return the clothes he had hid away, and he, thinking the
presence of the children a sufficient guaranty for her remaining
in his home, told her he had put them in an old, dry well hard by
the place where she had been bathing.
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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 Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving: All the stories of ghosts and goblins that he had heard in
the afternoon now came crowding upon his recollection. The night
grew darker and darker; the stars seemed to sink deeper in the
sky, and driving clouds occasionally hid them from his sight. He
had never felt so lonely and dismal. He was, moreover,
approaching the very place where many of the scenes of the ghost
stories had been laid. In the centre of the road stood an
enormous tulip-tree, which towered like a giant above all the
other trees of the neighborhood, and formed a kind of landmark.
Its limbs were gnarled and fantastic, large enough to form trunks
for ordinary trees, twisting down almost to the earth, and rising
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from In a German Pension by Katherine Mansfield: heard nobody go down the stone stairs. Was it possible that the strange
man was still there?...The thought was too absurd--Life didn't play tricks
like that--and yet--she was quite conscious of his nearness. Very quietly
she got up, unhooked from the back of the door a long white gown, buttoned
it on--smiling slyly. She did not know what was going to happen. She only
thought: "Oh, what fun!" and that they were playing a delicious game--this
strange man and she. Very gently she turned the door-handle, screwing up
her face and biting her lip as the lock snapped back. Of course, there he
was--leaning against the banister rail. He wheeled round as she slipped
into the passage.
"Da," she muttered, folding her gown tightly around her, "I must go
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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 Tono Bungay by H. G. Wells: "It's all up," he said....
"Adjudicated?"
"No!"
I stared at him for a moment, and then got off the stile.
We stood swaying and then came forward with a weak motion of his
arms like a man who cannot see distinctly, and caught at and
leant upon the stile. For a moment we were absolutely still. He
made a clumsy gesture towards the great futility below and
choked. I discovered that his face was wet with tears, that his
wet glasses blinded him. He put up his little fat hand and
clawed them off clumsily, felt inefficiently for his
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