| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Underground City by Jules Verne: two hundred feet before them was now seen at less than fifty.
The space continued to diminish. The bearer of the lamp
became partially visible. Sometimes, when it turned its head,
the indistinct profile of a human face could be made out,
and unless a sprite could assume bodily shape, Jack Ryan
was obliged to confess that here was no supernatural being.
Then, springing forward,--
"Courage, comrades!" he exclaimed; "it is getting tired!
We shall soon catch it up now, and if it can talk as well as it
can run we shall hear a fine story."
But the pursuit had suddenly become more difficult.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Early Short Fiction of Edith Wharton by Edith Wharton: I went to live at Mrs. Sampson's, and I have been there ever
since. I have grown a little infirm, as you see, and I don't get
out often; only on fine days, if I am feeling very well. So you
can understand my sitting a great deal in my window--the back
window on the third floor--"
"Well, Mrs. Manstey," said Mrs. Black, liberally, "I could give
you a back room, I dare say; one of the new rooms in the ex--"
"But I don't want to move; I can't move," said Mrs. Manstey,
almost with a scream. "And I came to tell you that if you build
that extension I shall have no view from my window--no view! Do
you understand?"
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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 Venus and Adonis by William Shakespeare: Here overcome, as one full of despair,
She vail'd her eyelids, who, like sluices, stopp'd 956
The crystal tide that from her two cheeks fair
In the sweet channel of her bosom dropp'd
But through the flood-gates breaks the silver rain,
And with his strong course opens them again. 960
O! how her eyes and tears did lend and borrow;
Her eyes seen in the tears, tears in her eye;
Both crystals, where they view'd each other's sorrow,
Sorrow that friendly sighs sought still to dry; 964
But like a stormy day, now wind, now rain,
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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 Man in Lower Ten by Mary Roberts Rinehart: window, and with my arm thrown over it for security, I lapsed
again into slumber. Later, when I tried to piece together the
fragments of that journey, I remembered that my coat, which had
been folded and placed beyond my restless tossing, had been rescued
in the morning from a heterogeneous jumble of blankets, evening
papers and cravat, had been shaken out with profanity and donned
with wrath. At the time, nothing occurred to me but the necessity
of writing to the Pullman Company and asking them if they ever
traveled in their own cars. I even formulated some of the letter.
"If they are built to scale, why not take a man of ordinary stature
as your unit?" I 'wrote mentally. "I can not fold together like
The Man in Lower Ten |
