| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Twice Told Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne: heart's anguish, and it did not fail to move the sympathies of
many who mistook their involuntary virtue for a sin. Sobs were
audible in the female section of the house, and every man who was
a father drew his hand across his eyes. Tobias Pearson was
agitated and uneasy, but a certain feeling like the consciousness
of guilt oppressed him, so that he could not go forth and offer
himself as the protector of the child. Dorothy, however, had
watched her husband's eye. Her mind was free from the influence
that had begun to work on his, and she drew near the Quaker
woman, and addressed her in the hearing of all the congregation.
"Stranger, trust this boy to me, and I will be his mother," she
Twice Told Tales |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Christ in Flanders by Honore de Balzac: Gavres.
The girl felt the longing for life in her heart, and for love that
spoke through the handsome adventurer, a young miscreant who haunted
churches in search of a prize, an heiress to marry, or ready money.
The Bishop bestowed his benison on the waves, and bade them be calm;
it was all that he could do. He thought of his concubine, and of the
delicate feast with which she would welcome him; perhaps at that very
moment she was bathing, perfuming herself, robing herself in velvet,
fastening her necklace and her jeweled clasps; and the perverse
Bishop, so far from thinking of the power of Holy Church, of his duty
to comfort Christians and exhort them to trust in God, mingled worldly
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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 Dawn O'Hara, The Girl Who Laughed by Edna Ferber: trying to write, anyway? Nobody wants my stuff. Good
for nothing except dubbing on a newspaper!
Rap! Rap! Rappity-rap-rap! Bing! Milk!
I dash into the kitchen. No milk! No milkman! I
fly to the door. He is disappearing around the corner of
the house.
"Hi! Mr. Milkman! Say, Mr. Milkman!" with frantic
beckonings.
He turns. He lifts up his voice. "The screen door
was locked so I left youse yer milk on top of
the ice-box on the back porch. Thought like the hired
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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 Vailima Letters by Robert Louis Stevenson: that leaves you cold, but I am Samoan enough to have been
moved. SUSUGA is my accepted rank; to be called AFIOGA -
Heavens! what an advance - and it leaves Europe cold. But it
staggered my Henry. The first time it was complicated 'lana
susuga MA lana afioga - his excellency AND his majesty' - the
next time plain Majesty. Henry then begged to interrupt the
interview and tell who he was - he is a small family chief in
Sawaii, not very small - 'I do not wish the King,' says he,
'to think me a boy from Apia.' On our return to the palace,
we separated. I had asked for the ladies to sleep alone -
that was understood; but that Tusitala - his afioga Tusitala
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