| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Ballads by Robert Louis Stevenson: HOUSE OF MINE, IN YOUR WALLS, STRONG SOUNDS THE SEA,
OF ALL SOUNDS ON EARTH, DEAREST SOUND TO ME.
I HAVE HEARD THE APPLAUSE OF MEN, I HAVE HEARD IT ARISE AND DIE:
SWEETER NOW IN MY HOUSE I HEAR THE TRADE-WIND CRY.
These were the words of his singing, other the thought of his heart;
For secret desire of glory vexed him, dwelling apart.
Lazy and crafty he was, and loved to lie in the sun,
And loved the cackle of talk and the true word uttered in fun;
Lazy he was, his roof was ragged, his table was lean,
And the fish swam safe in his sea, and he gathered the near and the green.
He sat in his house and laughed, but he loathed the king of the land,
Ballads |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Lost Princess of Oz by L. Frank Baum: the events happened. Every adventure in the Land of Oz and in the big
outside world, and even in places that you and I have never heard of,
were recorded accurately in the Great Book, which never made a mistake
and stated only the exact truth. For that reason, nothing could be
concealed from Glinda the Good, who had only to look at the pages of
the Great Book of Records to know everything that had taken place.
That was one reason she was such a great Sorceress, for the records
made her wiser than any other living person.
This wonderful book was placed upon a big gold table that stood in the
middle of Glinda's drawing room. The legs of the table, which were
incrusted with precious gems, were firmly fastened to the tiled floor,
The Lost Princess of Oz |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe: should have made some advantage of him, and perhaps have
had some maintenance from him; and though it was a life
wicked enough, yet it was not so full of danger as this I was
engaged in. However, those thoughts wore off, and I declined
seeing him again, for that time; but my governess saw him
often, and he was very kind to her, giving her something almost
every time he saw her. One time in particular she found him
very merry, and as she thought he had some wine in his head,
and he pressed her again very earnestly to let him see that
woman that, as he said, had bewitched him so that night, my
governess, who was from the beginning for my seeing him,
Moll Flanders |
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 An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce: and the veining of each leaf -- he saw the very insects upon
them: the locusts, the brilliant bodied flies, the gray
spiders stretching their webs from twig to twig. He noted
the prismatic colors in all the dewdrops upon a million
blades of grass. The humming of the gnats that danced above
the eddies of the stream, the beating of the dragon flies'
wings, the strokes of the water spiders' legs, like oars
which had lifted their boat -- all these made audible
music. A fish slid along beneath his eyes and he heard the
rush of its body parting the water.
He had come to the surface facing down the stream; in a
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge |
