| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Koran: in his two ears were dulness. But give to him glad tidings of grievous
woe!
Verily, those who believe and do right, for them are gardens of
pleasure, to dwell therein for aye;-God's promise in truth, and He
is wise.
He created the heavens without pillars that ye can see, and He threw
upon the earth firm mountains lest it should move with you; and He
dispersed thereon every sort of beast; and we send down from the
heavens water, and we caused to grow therein of every noble kind.
This is God's creation; show me what others beside Him have
created;-nay, the unjust are in obvious error!
The Koran |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Main Street by Sinclair Lewis: exercises, insignificant in the hot sweep of contemptuous land,
were not heroic; their voices did not ring out in the score, but
sounded apologetic; and when the game was over they glanced
about as though they were waiting to be laughed at.
They walked home. Carol took Erik's arm. Through her
thin linen sleeve she could feel the crumply warmth of his
familiar brown jersey coat. She observed that there were
purple and red gold threads interwoven with the brown. She
remembered the first time she had seen it.
Their talk was nothing but improvisations on the theme:
"I never did like this Haydock. He just considers his own
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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 Confidence by Henry James: the sentences, as if she were recalling the circumstances with a
certain effort; and meanwhile Bernard, with his transfigured face
and his eyes fixed upon her lips, was moving excitedly about the room.
"Well, he can't accuse me, then!" he broke out again.
"If what I said had no more effect upon him than that,
I certainly did him no wrong."
"I think you are rather vexed he did n't believe you,"
said Angela.
"I confess I don't understand it. He had all the air of it.
He certainly had not the air of a man who was going to rush off
and give you the last proof of his confidence."
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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 Poor and Proud by Oliver Optic: Encouraged by her prosperity, Katy continued to sell candy with
about the same result as had cheered her heart on the first two
days. Her profits, however, were not so great as on those two
days, and did not average above seventy-five cents a day or four
dollars and a half a week. This was doing exceedingly well, and
she had every reason to be grateful for her good fortune.
At the end of three weeks, rent day came round again, and Dr.
Flynch called for the money. To his utter astonishment, it was
ready for him, and he departed without a single ill-natured word,
though this was, perhaps, because he had a wholesome regard for
the opinion of Mrs. Gordon. Two weeks later Katy found that her
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