| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Maria, or the Wrongs of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft: heaven; and her eyes filled with delicious tears, when, at the
conclusion of his letter, wishing to supply the place of her unworthy
relations, whose want of principle he execrated, he assured her,
calling her his dearest girl, "that it should henceforth be the
business of his life to make her happy."
He begged, in a note sent the following morning, to be permitted
to see her, when his presence would be no intrusion on her grief,
and so earnestly intreated to be allowed, according to promise, to
beguile the tedious moments of absence, by dwelling on the events
of her past life, that she sent him the memoirs which had been
written for her daughter, promising Jemima the perusal as soon as
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Sons and Lovers by D. H. Lawrence: at freezing-point, and whisked and whisked, and flew in excitement
to his mother as the white of egg grew stiffer and more snowy.
"Just look, mother! Isn't it lovely?"
And he balanced a bit on his nose, then blew it in the air.
"Now, don't waste it," said the mother.
Everybody was mad with excitement. William was coming on
Christmas Eve. Mrs. Morel surveyed her pantry. There was a big
plum cake, and a rice cake, jam tarts, lemon tarts, and mince-pies--
two enormous dishes. She was finishing cooking--Spanish tarts
and cheese-cakes. Everywhere was decorated. The kissing bunch
of berried holly hung with bright and glittering things, spun slowly
Sons and Lovers |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Stories From the Old Attic by Robert Harris: that he had acted virtuously and now enjoyed a mostly pleasant life,
dispensing justice and mercy with care and humanity. His only regret
was that he had learned to shoot arrows.
Serendipity
A young man, in the confusion and embarrassment of youth, was walking
across the campus of a great university on the way to his philosophy
class. At the previous meeting, the professor had posed the
question, "If we do not know the purpose of something, how can we
know whether any aspect of it is good or bad?" This question,
together with the problem for the day, "Does man have a purpose?" had
taken complete occupation of the young man's mind, not because of any
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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 Aesop's Fables by Aesop: whenever it came near attempted to bite it. At last the Ox had to
give up the hope of getting at the straw, and went away muttering:
"Ah, people often grudge others what they
cannot enjoy themselves."
The Man and the Wooden God
In the old days men used to worship stocks and stones and
idols, and prayed to them to give them luck. It happened that a
Man had often prayed to a wooden idol he had received from his
father, but his luck never seemed to change. He prayed and he
prayed, but still he remained as unlucky as ever. One day in the
greatest rage he went to the Wooden God, and with one blow swept
Aesop's Fables |
