| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Enchanted Island of Yew by L. Frank Baum: he had won their enmity by abusing them in many ways; but Prince
Marvel would not let them do this. However, they tied the false
sorcerer to a post, and the captain gave him a good whipping--one lash
for each letter in the words "grasshopper" and "June-bug." Kwytoffle
howled loudly for mercy, but no one was at all sorry for him.
Wul-Takim tied a rope around the impostor's neck, and when the party
left the castle they journeyed all through the kingdom of Auriel, and
at every town or city they came to the reformed thief would cry out to
the populace:
"Here is the terrible sorcerer Kwytoffle, who threatened to change you
into grasshoppers and june-bugs. But you may see that he is a very
The Enchanted Island of Yew |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Perfect Wagnerite: A Commentary on the Niblung's Ring by George Bernard Shaw: progress were a reality, his beneficent impulses must be gaining
on his destructive ones. It was under the influence of these
ideas that we began to hear about the joy of life where we had
formerly heard about the grace of God or the Age of Reason, and
that the boldest spirits began to raise the question whether
churches and laws and the like were not doing a great deal more
harm than good by their action in limiting the freedom of the
human will. Four hundred years ago, when belief in God and in
revelation was general throughout Europe, a similar wave of
thought led the strongest-hearted peoples to affirm that every
man's private judgment was a more trustworthy interpreter of God
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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 Royalty Restored/London Under Charles II by J. Fitzgerald Molloy: gradually spread to Holborn, Fleet Street, the Strand, and the
city, finally reaching to the east, bringing death invariably in
its train.
The distemper was not only fatal in its termination, but
loathsome in its progress; for the blood of those affected being
poisoned by atmospheric contagion, bred venom in the body, which
burst forth into nauseous sores and uncleanness; or otherwise
preyed with more rapid fatality internally, in some cases causing
death before its victims were assured of disease. Nor did it
spare the young and robust any more than those weak of frame or
ripe with years, but attacking stealthily, killed speedily. It
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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 Sarrasine by Honore de Balzac: harsh, too overpowering for that shadow, for that man of dust--ah! the
thought that came into my mind was of death and life, an imaginary
arabesque, a half-hideous chimera, divinely feminine from the waist
up.
"And yet such marriages are often made in society!" I said to myself.
"He smells of the cemetery!" cried the terrified young woman, grasping
my arm as if to make sure of my protection, and moving about in a
restless, excited way, which convinced me that she was very much
frightened. "It's a horrible vision," she continued; "I cannot stay
here any longer. If I look at him again I shall believe that Death
himself has come in search of me. But is he alive?"
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