| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Mirror of the Sea by Joseph Conrad: Cape Hatteras (it was a general track-chart of the North Atlantic),
my skipper lifted his rugged, hairy face, and glared at me in a
half-exasperated, half-appealing way. We have seen no sun, moon,
or stars for something like seven days. By the effect of the West
Wind's wrath the celestial bodies had gone into hiding for a week
or more, and the last three days had seen the force of a south-west
gale grow from fresh, through strong, to heavy, as the entries in
my log-book could testify. Then we separated, he to go on deck
again, in obedience to that mysterious call that seems to sound for
ever in a shipmaster's ears, I to stagger into my cabin with some
vague notion of putting down the words "Very heavy weather" in a
The Mirror of the Sea |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from My Antonia by Willa Cather: shawl drawn neatly about her shoulders and a clumsy pocket-book
in her hand.
`Hello, Tony. Don't you know me?' she asked in a smooth, low voice,
looking in at us archly.
Antonia gasped and stepped back.
`Why, it's Lena! Of course I didn't know you, so dressed up!'
Lena Lingard laughed, as if this pleased her. I had not recognized
her for a moment, either. I had never seen her before with a hat on
her head--or with shoes and stockings on her feet, for that matter.
And here she was, brushed and smoothed and dressed like a town girl,
smiling at us with perfect composure.
My Antonia |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Adventure by Jack London: "We'll start," she corrected. "I can get twice as much out of my
Tahitians as you can, and, besides, one white should never be alone
under such circumstances."
He shrugged his shoulders in token, not of consent, but of
surrender, knowing the uselessness of attempting to argue the
question with her, and consoling himself with the reflection that
heaven alone knew what adventures she was liable to engage in if
left alone on Berande for a week. He clapped his hands, and for
the next quarter of an hour the house-boys were kept busy carrying
messages to the barracks. A man was sent to Balesuna village to
command old Seelee's immediate presence. A boat's-crew was started
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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 Manon Lescaut by Abbe Prevost: advanced without the slightest reserve towards her, who had thus
become, in a moment, the mistress of my heart.
"Although younger than myself, she received my civilities
without embarrassment. I asked the cause of her journey to
Amiens, and whether she had any acquaintances in the town. She
ingenuously told me that she had been sent there by her parents,
to commence her novitiate for taking the veil. Love had so
quickened my perception, even in the short moment it had been
enthroned, that I saw in this announcement a death-blow to my
hopes. I spoke to her in a way that made her at once understand
what was passing in my mind; for she had more experience than
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