| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Moon-Face and Other Stories by Jack London: "Color is a sensation," he was saying. "It has no objective reality. Without
light, we can see neither colors nor objects themselves. All objects are black
in the dark, and in the dark it is impossible to see them. If no light strikes
upon them, then no light is flung back from them to the eye, and so we have no
vision-evidence of their being."
"But we see black objects in daylight," I objected.
"Very true," he went on warmly. "And that is because they are not perfectly
black. Were they perfectly black, absolutely black, as it were, we could not
see them--ay, not in the blaze of a thousand suns could we see them! And so I
say, with the right pigments, properly compounded, an absolutely black paint
could be produced which would render invisible whatever it was applied to."
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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 Jungle Tales of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs: little affection. The younger apes Tarzan still played
with occasionally. In his savage way he loved them;
but they were far from satisfying or restful companions.
Tantor was a great mountain of calm, of poise, of stability.
It was restful and satisfying to sprawl upon his rough
pate and pour one's vague hopes and aspirations into
the great ears which flapped ponderously to and fro
in apparent understanding. Of all the jungle folk,
Tantor commanded Tarzan's greatest love since Kala
had been taken from him. Sometimes Tarzan wondered
if Tantor reciprocated his affection. It was difficult
The Jungle Tales of Tarzan |
| 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: dark to read; he didn't believe in straining his eyes, and gas at ten
o'clock in the morning seemed absurd. So he slipped down in the chair,
leaned his elbows on the padded arms and gave himself up, for once, to idle
dreaming. "A boy? Yes, it was bound to be a boy this time..." "What's
your family, Binzer?" "Oh, I've two girls and a boy!" A very nice little
number. Of course he was the last man to have a favourite child, but a man
needed a son. "I'm working up the business for my son! Binzer & Son! It
would mean living very tight for the next ten years, cutting expenses as
fine as possible; and then--"
A tremendous gust of wind sprang upon the house, seized it, shook it,
dropped, only to grip the more tightly. The waves swelled up along the
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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 Massimilla Doni by Honore de Balzac: not but be incapable of any stain.
As Emilio had not taken her hand, the Duchess pushed her fingers
through his hair that the singer had kissed. Then she perceived that
Emilio's hand was clammy and his brow moist.
"What ails you?" she asked, in a voice to which tenderness gave the
sweetness of a flute.
"Never till this moment have I known how much I love you," he replied.
"Well, dear idol, what would you have?" said she.
"What have I done to make her ask that?" he wondered to himself.
"Emilio, what letter was that which you threw into the lagoon?"
"Vendramini's. I had not read it to the end, or I should never have
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