| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from United States Declaration of Independence: When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for
one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected
them with another, and to assume, among the Powers of the earth,
the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and
of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions
of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which
impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,
that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.
That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men,
United States Declaration of Independence |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Mansion by Henry van Dyke: the road.
From the edge of the hill, where John Weightman sat, he could see
the travelers, in little groups or larger companies, gathering
from
time to time by the different paths, and making the ascent.
They were all clothed in white, and the form of their garments
was
strange to him; it was like some old picture. They passed him,
group after group, talking quietly together or singing; not
moving
in haste, but with a certain air of eagerness and joy as if they
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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 The Altar of the Dead by Henry James: symmetry. Symmetry was harmony, and the idea of harmony began to
haunt him; he said to himself that harmony was of course
everything. He took, in fancy, his composition to pieces,
redistributing it into other lines, making other juxtapositions and
contrasts. He shifted this and that candle, he made the spaces
different, he effaced the disfigurement of a possible gap. There
were subtle and complex relations, a scheme of cross-reference, and
moments in which he seemed to catch a glimpse of the void so
sensible to the woman who wandered in exile or sat where he had
seen her with the portrait of Acton Hague. Finally, in this way,
he arrived at a conception of the total, the ideal, which left a
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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 Maggie: A Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane: of passionate anger.
"What! Let 'er come an' sleep under deh same roof wid her
mudder agin! Oh, yes, I will, won't I? Sure? Shame on yehs,
Jimmie Johnson, for sayin' such a t'ing teh yer own mudder--teh yer
own mudder! Little did I t'ink when yehs was a babby playin' about
me feet dat ye'd grow up teh say sech a t'ing teh yer mudder--yer
own mudder. I never taut--"
Sobs choked her and interrupted her reproaches.
"Dere ain't nottin' teh raise sech hell about," said Jimmie.
"I on'y says it 'ud be better if we keep dis t'ing dark, see?
It queers us! See?"
Maggie: A Girl of the Streets |
