| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from When a Man Marries by Mary Roberts Rinehart: the mantel.
"Half an hour yet," Dal said, closing his watch. "Plenty of time,
and remember the signal, four short and two long."
"Four short and two long--all right, sir."
"And--Flannigan, here's something for you, on account."
"Thank you, sir."
Dal turned to go out, tripped over the rug, said something, and
passed me without an idea of my presence. A moment later
Flannigan went out, and I was left, huddled against the wall, and
alone.
It was puzzling enough. "Four long and two short!" "All but the
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Scarecrow of Oz by L. Frank Baum: bubbling and together the witches lifted it from the
fire. Then Blinkie brought a wooden ladle and filled it
from the contents of the kettle. Going with the spoon to
Princess Gloria she cried:
"Love no more! Magic art
Now will freeze your mortal heart!"
With this she dashed the contents of the ladle full
upon Gloria's breast.
Trot saw the body of the Princess become transparent,
so that her beating heart showed plainly. But now the
heart turned from a vivid red to gray, and then to white.
The Scarecrow of Oz |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Call of the Canyon by Zane Grey: girl. "Carley, why didn't you tell me Haze Ruff insulted you last night?"
"Why, Flo--he only said, 'Hello, pretty eyes,' and I let it pass!" said
Carley, lamely.
"You never want to let anything pass, out West. Because next time you'll
get worse. This turn your other cheek doesn't go in Arizona. But we shore
thought Ruff said worse than that. Though from him that's aplenty."
"How did you know?"
"Well, Charley told it. He was standing out here by the door last night an'
he heard Ruff speak to you. Charley thinks a heap of you an' I reckon he
hates Ruff. Besides, Charley stretches things. He shore riled Glenn, an' I
want to say, my dear, you missed the best thing that's happened since you
The Call of the Canyon |
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 Bickerstaff-Partridge Papers by Jonathan Swift: her swadling-cloaths to the barber. Accordingly Thales Milesius
(who like the rest of his countrymen, borrow'd his learning from
the Egyptians) after having computed the time of this famous
conjunction, "Then," says he, "shall men and women mutually
exchange the pangs of shaving and child-bearing."
Anaximander modestly describes this metamorphosis in mathematical
terms: "Then," says he, "shall the negative quantity of the women
be turn'd into positive, their - into +;" (i.e.) their minus into
plus.
Plato not only speaks of this great change, but describes all the
preparations towards it. "Long before the bodily transformation,
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