| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Miracle Mongers and Their Methods by Harry Houdini: drink it dry; would eat a number of pounds
of soap, or other nauseating substance, clowning
it in a manner to provoke amusement instead
of disgust; and, further to mask the
disagreeable features--and also, no doubt, to
conceal the trick--would take the cloth from
the table and cover his face; whereupon he
would bring forth the swallowed cat, or one
that looked like it, which would howl piteously
and seem to struggle wildly while being
disgorged. When freed, the poor cat would rush
Miracle Mongers and Their Methods |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from When the World Shook by H. Rider Haggard: since they were at once seized and sacrificed to the god Oro,
which was the right thing to do in such a case.
We asked whether he would consider it right to sacrifice us. He
replied:
Certainly, unless we were too strong, being gods ourselves, or
unless an arrangement could be concluded. We asked--what
arrangement? He replied that we must make them gifts; also that
we must do what we had promised and cure him--the chief--of the
disease which had tormented him for years. In that event
everything would be at our disposal and we, with all our
belongings, should become taboo, holy, not to be touched. None
When the World Shook |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James: and said 'You Boston ministers, as soon as a tulip wilts under
your windows, go to church and pray for rain, until all Concord
and Sudbury are under water.'" R. W. Emerson: Lectures and
Biographical Sketches, p. 363.
Prayer in this wide sense is the very soul and essence of
religion. "Religion," says a liberal French theologian, "is an
intercourse, a conscious and voluntary relation, entered into by
a soul in distress with the mysterious power upon which it feels
itself to depend, and upon which its fate is contingent. This
intercourse with God is realized by prayer. Prayer is religion
in act; that is, prayer is real religion. It is prayer that
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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 Copy-Cat & Other Stories by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman: a chair and take away Amelia's gingham, and there
was no Amelia. Mrs. Diantha had heard the com-
motion, and had risen, thrown on her wrapper, and
come. Her mother had turned upon her.
"It is all your fault, Diantha," she had declared.
"My fault?" echoed Mrs. Diantha, bewildered.
"Where is Amelia?"
"We don't know," said Grandmother Stark, "but
you have probably driven her away from home by
your cruelty."
"Cruelty?"
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