| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Amazing Interlude by Mary Roberts Rinehart: her to sleep.
"Un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq," Sara Lee would begin, and go on, rocking
gently in her berth as the steamer roIled, "Vingt, vii gt-et-un,
vingt-deux, trente, trente -et- un - " Her voice would die away. The
book on the floor and Harvey's picture on the tiny table, Sara Lee would
sleep. And as the ship trembled the light over her bead would shine on
Harvey's ring, and it glistened like a tear.
One thing surprised her as she gradually met some of her fellow
passengers. She was not alone on her errand. Others there were on
board, young and old women, an4 men, too who had felt the call of mercy
and were going, as ignorant as she, to help. As ignorant, but not so
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Glinda of Oz by L. Frank Baum: discovered that Coo-ee-oh was a powerful sorceress who
had gained most of her power by treacherously
transforming the Adepts of Magic, who were visiting
her, into three fishes -- gold, silver and bronze --
after which she had them cast into the lake.
Glinda reflected earnestly on this information and
decided that someone must go to Ozma's assistance.
While there was no great need of haste, because Ozma
and Dorothy could live in a submerged dome a long time,
it was evident they could not get out until someone was
able to raise the island.
Glinda of Oz |
| 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: the authority of Hesiod, who says:
'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;
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 Hiero by Xenophon: tyrant finds little consolation in the fact[13] that he is evidently
richer than the private citizen. What he feels is pain, when he
reflects that he has less himself than other monarchs. These he holds
to be his true antagonists; these are his rivals in the race for
wealth.
[12] Or, "It gives no pleasure to the athlete to win victories over
amateurs." See "Mem." III. viii. 7.
[13] Or, "each time it is brought home to him that," etc.
Nor does the tyrant attain the object of his heart's desire more
quickly than do humbler mortals theirs. For consider, what are their
objects of ambition? The private citizen has set his heart, it may be,
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