| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Country of the Pointed Firs by Sarah Orne Jewett: friends, and I wished that he had waited for one of his mates, it
was such hard work to row along shore through rough seas and tend
the traps alone. As we passed I waved my hand and tried to call to
him, and he looked up and answered my farewells by a solemn nod.
The little town, with the tall masts of its disabled schooners in
the inner bay, stood high above the flat sea for a few minutes then
it sank back into the uniformity of the coast, and became
indistinguishable from the other towns that looked as if they were
crumbled on the furzy-green stoniness of the shore.
The small outer islands of the bay were covered among the
ledges with turf that looked as fresh as the early grass; there had
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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 Scarecrow of Oz by L. Frank Baum: "Why, we must be polite, whatever we do," explained the
Scarecrow. "It would be very rude to conquer a King
without proper notice."
They found it difficult to write a message without
paper, pen and ink, none of which was at hand; so it was
decided to send Pon as a messenger, with instructions to
ask the King, politely but firmly, to surrender.
Pon was not anxious to be the messenger. Indeed, he
hinted that it might prove a dangerous mission. But the
Scarecrow was now the acknowledged head of the Army of
Conquest, and he would listen to no refusal. So off Pon
The Scarecrow of Oz |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Master of the World by Jules Verne: twelve or fifteen hundred feet. As to the space enclosed within, we
could scarce reckon that without knowing the thickness of the
encompassing wall. The surroundings were absolutely deserted.
Probably not a living creature ever mounted to this height, except
the few birds of prey which soared high above us.
Our watches showed three o'clock, and Mr. Smith cried in disgust,
"What is the use of stopping here all day! We shall learn nothing
more. We must make a start, Mr. Strock, if we want to get back to
Pleasant Garden to-night."
I made no answer, and did not move from where I was seated; so he
called again, "Come, Mr. Strock; you don't answer."
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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 The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table by Oliver Wendell Holmes: There is a parallelism without identity in the animal and vegetable
life of the two continents, which favors the task of comparison in
an extraordinary manner. Just as we have two trees alike in many
ways, yet not the same, both elms, yet easily distinguishable, just
so we have a complete flora and a fauna, which, parting from the
same ideal, embody it with various modifications. Inventive power
is the only quality of which the Creative Intelligence seems to be
economical; just as with our largest human minds, that is the
divinest of faculties, and the one that most exhausts the mind
which exercises it. As the same patterns have very commonly been
followed, we can see which is worked out in the largest spirit, and
The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table |
