| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Red Seal by Natalie Sumner Lincoln: step-mother kissed her.
"How did this envelope get back inside our safe?" asked Kent a
moment later, picking it up and displaying the red seal, intact
save for the broken corner.
"I went downstairs about midnight or a little later and into the
library," confessed Helen. "What was my surprise and terror to see
Grimes holding the envelope. To me it meant father's exposure as a
forger. I had a revolver in my hand and struck before I thought.
Then I must temporarily have lost my reason. It was only my thought
to save father that lent me courage and strength to thrust Grimes
inside the casket where Babs and I used to hide. I then returned
The Red Seal |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Alexandria and her Schools by Charles Kingsley: in the midst of idolatrous nations, and who knew, from experience even
more bitter than that which taught Plato and Socrates, how directly all
those popular idolatries led to every form of baseness and immorality.
But we may trace in them, from the date of their return from Babylon,
especially from their settlement in Alexandria, a singular change of
opinion. In proportion as they began to deny that their unseen personal
Ruler had anything to do with the Gentiles--the nations of the earth, as
they called them--in proportion as they considered themselves as His
only subjects--or rather, Him and His guidance as their own private
property--exactly in that proportion they began to lose all living or
practical belief that He did guide them. He became a being of the past;
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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 Prince by Nicolo Machiavelli: In our times, during the rule of Alexander the Sixth, Oliverotto da
Fermo, having been left an orphan many years before, was brought up by
his maternal uncle, Giovanni Fogliani, and in the early days of his
youth sent to fight under Pagolo Vitelli, that, being trained under
his discipline, he might attain some high position in the military
profession. After Pagolo died, he fought under his brother Vitellozzo,
and in a very short time, being endowed with wit and a vigorous body
and mind, he became the first man in his profession. But it appearing
a paltry thing to serve under others, he resolved, with the aid of
some citizens of Fermo, to whom the slavery of their country was
dearer than its liberty, and with the help of the Vitelleschi, to
The Prince |
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 Wife, et al by Anton Chekhov: wait for it to close of itself, or to fill up with mud at the
very time when perhaps I might leap over it or build a bridge
across it? And again, wait for the sake of what? Wait till
there's no strength to live? And meanwhile one must live, and one
wants to live!
"I went away from my brother's early in the morning, and ever
since then it has been unbearable for me to be in town. I am
oppressed by its peace and quiet; I am afraid to look at the
windows, for there is no spectacle more painful to me now than
the sight of a happy family sitting round the table drinking tea.
I am old and am not fit for the struggle; I am not even capable
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