| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad: I jumped up from the couch so quickly that he gave a start.
"What do you want here?"
"Close your port, sir--they are washing decks."
"It is closed," I said, reddening.
"Very well, sir." But he did not move from the doorway and returned
my stare in an extraordinary, equivocal manner for a time.
Then his eyes wavered, all his expression changed, and in a voice
unusually gentle, almost coaxingly:
"May I come in to take the empty cup away, sir?"
"Of course!" I turned my back on him while he popped in and out.
Then I unhooked and closed the door and even pushed the bolt.
The Secret Sharer |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Extracts From Adam's Diary by Mark Twain: me another shelter, in a secluded place, and obliterated my tracks
as well as I could, but she hunted me out by means of a beast which
she has tamed and calls a wolf, and came making that pitiful noise
again, and shedding that water out of the places she looks with.
I was obliged to return with her, but will presently emigrate again,
when occasion offers. She engages herself in many foolish things:
among others, trying to study out why the animals called lions and
tigers live on grass and flowers, when, as she says, the sort of
teeth they wear would indicate that they were intended to eat each
other. This is foolish, because to do that would be to kill each
other, and that would introduce what, as I understand it, is called
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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 In Darkest England and The Way Out by General William Booth: By this Plan, habits of cleanliness will be created, and some
knowledge of sanitary questions in general will be imparted.
This Scheme changes the circumstances of those whose poverty is caused
by their misfortune. To begin with, it finds work for the unemployed.
This is the chief need. The great problem that has for ages been
puzzling the brains of the political economist and philanthropist has
been "How can we find these people work?" No matter what other helps
are discovered, without work there is no real ground for hope.
Charity and all the other ten thousand devices are only temporary
expedients, altogether insufficient to meet the necessity. Work, apart
from the fact that it is God's method of supplying the wants of man's
In Darkest England and The Way Out |
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 Commission in Lunacy by Honore de Balzac: Justice, intending to have prompt and righteous justice done. As he
went to the robing-room to put on his gown and bands, the usher told
him that the President of his Court begged him to attend in his
private room, where he was waiting for him. Popinot forthwith obeyed.
"Good-morning, my dear Popinot," said the President, "I have been
waiting for you."
"Why, Monsieur le President, is anything wrong?"
"A mere silly trifle," said the President. "The Keeper of the Seals,
with whom I had the honor of dining yesterday, led me apart into a
corner. He had heard that you had been to tea with Madame d'Espard, in
whose case you were employed to make inquiries. He gave me to
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