| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Theaetetus by Plato: man, and busy in enquiring what belongs to such a nature to do or suffer
different from any other;--I think that you understand me, Theodorus?
THEODORUS: I do, and what you say is true.
SOCRATES: And thus, my friend, on every occasion, private as well as
public, as I said at first, when he appears in a law-court, or in any place
in which he has to speak of things which are at his feet and before his
eyes, he is the jest, not only of Thracian handmaids but of the general
herd, tumbling into wells and every sort of disaster through his
inexperience. His awkwardness is fearful, and gives the impression of
imbecility. When he is reviled, he has nothing personal to say in answer
to the civilities of his adversaries, for he knows no scandals of any one,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne: The weather was cold, the heavens grey, but it was not snowing.
The sun's disc, enlarged by the mist, seemed an enormous ring of gold,
and Passepartout was amusing himself by calculating its value
in pounds sterling, when he was diverted from this interesting study
by a strange-looking personage who made his appearance on the platform.
This personage, who had taken the train at Elko, was tall and dark,
with black moustache, black stockings, a black silk hat, a black waistcoat,
black trousers, a white cravat, and dogskin gloves. He might have been
taken for a clergyman. He went from one end of the train to the other,
and affixed to the door of each car a notice written in manuscript.
Passepartout approached and read one of these notices, which stated that
Around the World in 80 Days |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Scarecrow of Oz by L. Frank Baum: "moving picture" of life, and if the one who stood before
it wished to know what any absent person was doing, the
picture instantly showed that person, with his or her
surroundings.
The two girls were not wishing to see anyone in
particular, on this occasion, but merely enjoyed watching
the shifting scenes, some of which were exceedingly
curious and remarkable. Suddenly Dorothy exclaimed: "Why,
there's Button-Bright!" and this drew Ozma also to look
at the picture, for she and Dorothy knew the boy well.
"Who is Button-Bright?" asked Betsy, who had never met
The Scarecrow 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 Danny's Own Story by Don Marquis: and then I hearn the one that belonged there say:
"Is yo' SUAH dat hit air dem?"
"SUAH!" says the driver.
"How-come yo' so all-powerful SUAH about hit?"
The driver pertended the harness needed some
fixing, and they went around to the other side of the
team and tinkered with one of the traces, a-talking
to each other. I hearn the old nigger say, kind of
wonderized:
"Is dey a-gwine dar NOW?"
Sam, he was pulling a bucket of water up out of
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