| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The United States Constitution: construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States,
or of any particular State.
Section 4. The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union
a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against
Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive
(when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.
ARTICLE FIVE
The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary,
shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of
the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention
for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents
The United States Constitution |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Virginian by Owen Wister: ground, dead. I took the chicken to the family in the hen-house.
No, it was not altogether funny any more. And I did not think
less of the Virginian when I came upon him surreptitiously
digging a little hole in the field for her.
"I have buried some citizens here and there, said he, "that I
have respected less."
And when the time came for me to leave Sunk Creek, my last word
to the Virginian was, "Don't forget Em'ly."
"I ain't likely to," responded the cow-puncher. "She is just one
o' them parables."
Save when he fell into his native idioms (which, they told me,
The Virginian |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Children of the Night by Edwin Arlington Robinson: The judge, with his big bald head, never knew it;
And the jury (God rest their poor souls!) never dreamed it.
Once there were three in the world who could tell it;
Now there are two. There'll be two to-morrow, --
You, my friend, and -- But there's the story: --
When I was a boy the world was heaven.
I never knew then that the men and the women
Who petted and called me a brave big fellow
Were ever less happy than I; but wisdom --
Which comes with the years, you know -- soon showed me
The secret of all my glittering childhood,
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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 Ozma of Oz by L. Frank Baum: seemed very like the rock itself, for they were the color of rocks and
their shapes were as rough and rugged as if they had been broken away
from the side of the mountain. They kept close to the steep cliff
facing our friends, and glided up and down, and this way and that,
with a lack of regularity that was quite confusing. And they seemed
not to need places to rest their feet, but clung to the surface of the
rock as a fly does to a window-pane, and were never still for a moment.
"Do not mind them," said Tiktok, as Dorothy shrank back. "They are
on-ly the Nomes."
"And what are Nomes?" asked the girl, half frightened.
"They are rock fair-ies, and serve the Nome King," replied the machine.
Ozma of Oz |
