| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Reason Discourse by Rene Descartes: brain), the weaker and less agitated parts must necessarily be driven
aside from that point by the stronger which alone in this way reach it I
had expounded all these matters with sufficient minuteness in the treatise
which I formerly thought of publishing. And after these, I had shown what
must be the fabric of the nerves and muscles of the human body to give the
animal spirits contained in it the power to move the members, as when we
see heads shortly after they have been struck off still move and bite the
earth, although no longer animated; what changes must take place in the
brain to produce waking, sleep, and dreams; how light, sounds, odors,
tastes, heat, and all the other qualities of external objects impress it
with different ideas by means of the senses; how hunger, thirst, and the
Reason Discourse |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Anthem by Ayn Rand: before me. The Saint of the pyre had seen
the future when he chose me as his heir,
as the heir of all the saints and all the
martyrs who came before him and who
died for the same cause, for the same word,
no matter what name they gave to their
cause and their truth.
I shall live here, in my own house.
I shall take my food from the earth
by the toil of my own hands. I shall
learn many secrets from my books.
Anthem |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Magic of Oz by L. Frank Baum: Ruggedo, the Nome.
"Do many beasts live here?" asked Kiki Aru, the other eagle.
"The forest is full of them," said the Nome. "There are enough
beasts right here to enable us to conquer the people of Oz, if we can
get them to consent to join us. To do that, we must go among them
and tell them our plans, so we must now decide on what shapes we had
better assume while in the forest."
"I suppose we must take the shapes of beasts?" said Kiki.
"Of course. But that requires some thought. All kinds of beasts
live here, and a yellow leopard is King. If we become leopards, the
King will be jealous of us. If we take the forms of some of the other
The Magic of Oz |
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 Night and Day by Virginia Woolf: Far off, they heard the rustle of skirts. Then the owner of the skirts
appeared in the doorway, which she almost filled, nearly concealing
the figure of a very much smaller lady who accompanied her.
"My aunts!" Katharine murmured, under her breath. Her tone had a hint
of tragedy in it, but no less, Ralph thought, than the situation
required. She addressed the larger lady as Aunt Millicent; the smaller
was Aunt Celia, Mrs. Milvain, who had lately undertaken the task of
marrying Cyril to his wife. Both ladies, but Mrs. Cosham (Aunt
Millicent) in particular, had that look of heightened, smoothed,
incarnadined existence which is proper to elderly ladies paying calls
in London about five o'clock in the afternoon. Portraits by Romney,
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