| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Kidnapped Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum: a matter of fact, for a long period of time he encountered nothing but
love wherever he might go.
But the Daemons who live in the mountain caves grew to hate Santa Claus
very much, and all for the simple reason that he made children happy.
The Caves of the Daemons are five in number. A broad pathway leads
up to the first cave, which is a finely arched cavern at the foot of
the mountain, the entrance being beautifully carved and decorated. In
it resides the Daemon of Selfishness. Back of this is another cavern
inhabited by the Daemon of Envy. The cave of the Daemon of Hatred is
next in order, and through this one passes to the home of the Daemon
of Malice--situated in a dark and fearful cave in the very heart of
A Kidnapped Santa Claus |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald: incarnation was complete.
Through all he said, even through his appalling sentimentality, I was
reminded of something--an elusive rhythm, a fragment of lost words, that
I had heard somewhere a long time ago. For a moment a phrase tried to
take shape in my mouth and my lips parted like a dumb man's, as though
there was more struggling upon them than a wisp of startled air. But
they made no sound, and what I had almost remembered was
uncommunicable forever.
Chapter 7
It was when curiosity about Gatsby was at its highest that the lights
in his house failed to go on one Saturday night--and, as obscurely as it
The Great Gatsby |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Lysis by Plato: 'Potter quarrels with potter, bard with bard,
Beggar with beggar;'
and of all other things he affirmed, in like manner, 'That of necessity the
most like are most full of envy, strife, and hatred of one another, and the
most unlike, of friendship. For the poor man is compelled to be the friend
of the rich, and the weak requires the aid of the strong, and the sick man
of the physician; and every one who is ignorant, has to love and court him
who knows.' And indeed he went on to say in grandiloquent language, that
the idea of friendship existing between similars is not the truth, but the
very reverse of the truth, and that the most opposed are the most friendly;
for that everything desires not like but that which is most unlike: for
Lysis |
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 Nana, Miller's Daughter, Captain Burle, Death of Olivier Becaille by Emile Zola: side of the stove. Your cat's sniffing at his trouser legs!"
And with that she carried La Faloise off into the lobby, while the
other gentlemen once more resigned themselves to their fate and to
semisuffocation and the masqueraders drank on the stairs and
indulged in rough horseplay and guttural drunken jests.
On the stage above Bordenave was wild with the sceneshifters, who
seemed never to have done changing scenes. They appeared to be
acting of set purpose--the prince would certainly have some set
piece or other tumbling on his head.
"Up with it! Up with it!" shouted the foreman.
At length the canvas at the back of the stage was raised into
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