| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain: along towards the end of the afternoon, and it strung
along, and strung along, and the old man he was on
hand and looking his level pisonest, up there longside
of the auctioneer, and chipping in a little Scripture
now and then, or a little goody-goody saying of some
kind, and the duke he was around goo-gooing for sym-
pathy all he knowed how, and just spreading himself
generly.
But by and by the thing dragged through, and
everything was sold -- everything but a little old trifling
lot in the graveyard. So they'd got to work that off
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum: palace -- even the Saw-Horse taking his place in the queer procession.
Upon her throne of finely wrought gold sat Glinda, and she could scarcely
repress a smile as her peculiar visitors entered and bowed before her. Both
the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman she knew and liked; but the awkward
Pumpkinhead and Highly Magnified Woggle-Bug were creatures she had never
seen before, and they seemed even more curious than the others. As for the
Saw-Horse, he looked to be nothing more than an animated chunk of wood; and
he bowed so stiffly that his head bumped against the floor, causing a ripple
of laughter among the soldiers, in which Glinda frankly joined.
"I beg to announce to your glorious highness," began the Scarecrow, in a
solemn voice, "that my Emerald City has been overrun by a crowd of impudent
The Marvelous Land of Oz |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Woman and Labour by Olive Schreiner: earth: in the darkness he may curse his beast, and believe its aim is
simply to cast him off, and free itself for ever of its burden. But when
the morning dawns and lights the hills and valleys he has travelled,
looking backward, he may perceive that the spot where his beast reared,
planting its feet into the earth, and where it refused to move farther on
the old road, was indeed the edge of a mighty precipice, down which one
step more would have precipitated both horse and rider. And he may then
see that it was an instinct wiser than his own which lead his creature,
though in the dark, to leap backward, seeking a new path along which both
might travel. (Is it not recorded that even Balaam's ass on which he rode
saw the angel with flaming sword, but Balaam saw it not?)
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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 Letters of Two Brides by Honore de Balzac: which I cling.
It was while your blessed lot was filling me with joy and--must I
confess it?--with bitter envy too, that I felt the first movement of
my child within, and this mystery of physical life reacted upon the
inner recesses of my soul. This indefinable sensation, which partakes
of the nature at once of a warning, a delight, a pain, a promise, and
a fulfilment; this joy, which is mine alone, unshared by mortal, this
wonder of wonders, has whispered to me that one day this rock shall be
a carpet of flowers, resounding to the merry laughter of children,
that I shall at last be blessed among women, and from me shall spring
forth fountains of life. Now I know what I have lived for! Thus the
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