| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Breaking Point by Mary Roberts Rinehart: "Our place was very isolated."
Bassett found himself being politely ushered out, considerably more
at sea than when he went in and slightly irritated. His annoyance
was not decreased by the calm voice behind him which said:
"Better drink considerable water when you take that stuff. Some
stomachs don't tolerate it very well."
The door closed. The reporter stood in the waiting-room for a
moment. Then he clapped on his hat.
"Well, I'm a damned fool," he muttered, and went out into the street.
He was disappointed and a trifle sheepish. Life was full of queer
chances, that was all. No resemblance on earth, no coincidence of
The Breaking Point |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Father Sergius by Leo Tolstoy: leaving him alone, at Sergius's own request. The cell was a dual
cave, dug into the hillside, and in it Hilary had been buried.
In the back part was Hilary's grave, while in the front was a
niche for sleeping, with a straw mattress, a small table, and a
shelf with icons and books. Outside the outer door, which
fastened with a hook, was another shelf on which, once a day, a
monk placed food from the monastery.
And so Sergius became a hermit.
III
At Carnival time, in the sixth year of Sergius's life at the
hermitage, a merry company of rich people, men and women from a
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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 Large Catechism by Dr. Martin Luther: bread and wine. But if the words remain with them as they shall and
must, then, in virtue of the same, it is truly the body and blood of
Christ. For as the lips of Christ say and speak, so it is, as He can
never lie or deceive.
Hence it is easy to reply to all manner of questions about which men
are troubled at the present time, such as this one: Whether even a
wicked priest can minister at, and dispense, the Sacrament, and
whatever other questions like this there may be. For here we conclude
and say: Even though a knave takes or distributes the Sacrament, he
receives the true Sacrament, that is, the true body and blood of
Christ, just as truly as he who [receives or] administers it in 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 Madam How and Lady Why by Charles Kingsley: expected an earthquake. True. I will tell you another time.
CHAPTER III--VOLCANOS
You want to know why the Spaniards in Peru and Ecuador should have
expected an earthquake.
Because they had had so many already. The shaking of the ground
in their country had gone on perpetually, till they had almost
ceased to care about it, always hoping that no very heavy shock
would come; and being, now and then, terribly mistaken.
For instance, in the province of Quito, in the year 1797, from
thirty to forty thousand people were killed at once by an
earthquake. One would have thought that warning enough: but the
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