| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Glimpses of the Moon by Edith Wharton: deserted Clarissa Vanderlyn for the whole day, and even for two
or three in succession--poor little Clarissa, whom she knew to
be so unprotected, so exposed to evil influences. She had been
too much absorbed in her own greedy bliss to be more than
intermittently aware of the child; but now, she felt, no sorrow
however ravaging, no happiness however absorbing, would ever
again isolate her from her kind.
And then these children were so different! The exquisite
Clarissa was already the predestined victim of her surroundings:
her budding soul was divided from Susy's by the same barrier of
incomprehension that separated the latter from Mrs. Vanderlyn.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Oscar Wilde Miscellaneous by Oscar Wilde: GUIDO. Nay, fair Bianca, I will buy the robe,
And all things that the honest merchant has
I will buy also. Princes must be ransomed,
And fortunate are all high lords who fall
Into the white hands of so fair a foe.
SIMONE. I stand rebuked. But you will buy my wares?
Will you not buy them? Fifty thousand crowns
Would scarce repay me. But you, my Lord, shall have them
For forty thousand. Is that price too high?
Name your own price. I have a curious fancy
To see you in this wonder of the loom
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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 Little Rivers by Henry van Dyke: that plain religion whose highest philosophy is "Trust in the Lord
and do good." At the end of the evening the household was gathered
for prayers, and the Mistress kneeled among her servants, leading
them, in her soft Scottish accent, through the old familiar
petitions for pardon for the errors of the day, and refreshing
sleep through the night and strength for the morrow. It is good to
be in a land where the people are not ashamed to pray. I have
shared the blessing of Catholics at their table in lowly huts among
the mountains of the Tyrol, and knelt with Covenanters at their
household altar in the glens of Scotland; and all around the world,
where the spirit of prayer is, there is peace. The genius of 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 A Voyage to Abyssinia by Father Lobo: with the coast of Arabia, on which part at twelve leagues from the
mouth stands the city of Moca, a place of considerable trade. Forty
leagues farther is the Isle of Camaram, whose inhabitants are
annoyed with little serpents, which they call basilisks, which,
though very poisonous and deadly, do not, as the ancients have told
us, kill with their eyes, or if they have so fatal a power, it is
not at least in this place. Sailing ninety leagues farther, you see
the noted port of Jodda, where the pilgrims that go to Mecca and
Medina unlade those rich presents which the zeal of different
princes is every day accumulating at the tomb of Mahomet. The
commerce of this place, and the number of merchants that resort
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