| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Extracts From Adam's Diary by Mark Twain: Wednesday
I have had a variegated time. I escaped that night, and rode a
horse all night as fast as he could go, hoping to get clear out of
the Park and hide in some other country before the trouble should
begin; but it was not to be. About an hour after sunup, as I was
riding through a flowery plain where thousands of animals were
grazing, slumbering, or playing with each other, according to their
wont, all of a sudden they broke into a tempest of frightful noises,
and in one moment the plain was in a frantic commotion and every
beast was destroying its neighbor. I knew what it meant--Eve had
eaten that fruit, and death was come into the world. ... 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 Tao Teh King by Lao-tze: gentleness protecting him.
68. He who in (Tao's) wars has skill
Assumes no martial port;
He who fights with most good will
To rage makes no resort.
He who vanquishes yet still
Keeps from his foes apart;
He whose hests men most fulfil
Yet humbly plies his art.
Thus we say, 'He ne'er contends,
And therein is his might.'
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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 Little Women by Louisa May Alcott: Laurie rose as he spoke, returned the pictures with a smile
and a bow and looked at his watch, as if to remind her that
even moral lectures should have an end. He tried to resume his
former easy, indifferent air, but it was an affectation now, for
the rousing had been more effacious than he would confess. Amy
felt the shade of coldness in his manner, and said to herself . ..
"Now, I've offended him. Well, if it does him good, I'm
glad, if it makes him hate me, I'm sorry, but it's true, and
I can't take back a word of it."
They laughed and chatted all the way home, and little
Baptist, up behind, thought that monsieur and madamoiselle
Little Women |
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 From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne: In 20@ 7' north latitude, and 41@ 37' west longitude, on the
12th of December, at seventeen minutes past one in the morning,
the projectile of the Columbiad fell into the Pacific.
Send instructions.-- BLOMSBERRY, Commander Susquehanna.
Five minutes afterward the whole town of San Francisco learned
the news. Before six in the evening the different States of the
Union had heard the great catastrophe; and after midnight, by
the cable, the whole of Europe knew the result of the great
American experiment. We will not attempt to picture the effect
produced on the entire world by that unexpected denouement.
On receipt of the telegram the Naval Secretary telegraphed to
From the Earth to the Moon |
