| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia by Samuel Johnson: finding that his predominant passion was desire for money, I began
now to think my danger less, for I knew that no sum would be
thought too great for the release of Pekuah. I told him that he
should have no reason to charge me with ingratitude if I was used
with kindness, and that any ransom which could be expected for a
maid of common rank would be paid, but that he must not persist to
rate me as a princess. He said he would consider what he should
demand, and then, smiling, bowed and retired.
"Soon after the women came about me, each contending to be more
officious than the other, and my maids themselves were served with
reverence. We travelled onward by short journeys. On the fourth
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Out of Time's Abyss by Edgar Rice Burroughs: a half-smile played across his lips but his cold, gray eyes
were unsmiling.
"What you did to me just now," he said, "--I am going to kill
you for that," and even as he spoke, he launched himself at the
throat of Fosh-bal-soj. The other Wieroo that had been asleep
when Bradley left the chamber had departed, and the two were alone.
Fosh-bal-soj displayed little of the cowardice of those that had
attacked Bradley in the alleyway, but that may have been because
he had so slight opportunity, for Bradley had him by the throat
before he could utter a cry and with his right hand struck him
heavily and repeatedly upon his face and over his heart--ugly,
Out of Time's Abyss |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Night and Day by Virginia Woolf: invisible themselves, they had the better chance of feasting upon the
privacy of the room's adorable and mysterious mistress. Cassandra
adored her cousin; the adoration might have been foolish, but was
saved from that excess and lent an engaging charm by the volatile
nature of Cassandra's temperament. She had adored a great many things
and people in the course of twenty-two years; she had been alternately
the pride and the desperation of her teachers. She had worshipped
architecture and music, natural history and humanity, literature and
art, but always at the height of her enthusiasm, which was accompanied
by a brilliant degree of accomplishment, she changed her mind and
bought, surreptitiously, another grammar. The terrible results which
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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 The Wife, et al by Anton Chekhov: only one passage:
"The epizootics do immense damage to the stock of the country. It
is the duty of society to work hand in hand with the government
in waging war upon them."
Before saying this to Gundasov, my tutor cleared his throat three
times, and several times, in his excitement, wrapped himself up
in his Inverness. On hearing about the epizootics, my uncle
looked intently at my tutor and made a sound between a snort and
a laugh.
"Upon my soul, that's charming!" he said, scrutinizing us as
though we were mannequins. "This is actually life. . . . This is
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