| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Flower Fables by Louisa May Alcott: far away from mortal eyes danced the Fairy folk. Fire-flies hung
in bright clusters on the dewy leaves, that waved in the cool
night-wind; and the flowers stood gazing, in very wonder, at the
little Elves, who lay among the fern-leaves, swung in the vine-boughs,
sailed on the lake in lily cups, or danced on the mossy ground,
to the music of the hare-bells, who rung out their merriest peal
in honor of the night.
Under the shade of a wild rose sat the Queen and her little
Maids of Honor, beside the silvery mushroom where the feast
was spread.
"Now, my friends," said she, "to wile away the time till the bright
Flower Fables |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tour Through Eastern Counties of England by Daniel Defoe: by the late Earl of Radnor, adorned with all the natural beauties
of situation, and to which was added all the most exquisite
contrivances which the best heads could invent to make it
artificially as well as naturally pleasant.
However, the fate of the Radnor family so directing, it was bought
with the whole estate about it by the late Duke of Newcastle, in a
partition of whose immense estate it fell to the Right Honourable
the Lord Harley, son and heir-apparent of the present Earl of
Oxford and Mortimer, in right of the Lady Harriet Cavendish, only
daughter of the said Duke of Newcastle, who is married to his
lordship, and brought him this estate and many other, sufficient to
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum: the two silver Wishing Pills, it was not to be found. Filled with anxiety,
the voyagers hunted throughout every inch of the
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Thing for the precious box; but it had disappeared entirely.
And still the Gump flew onward, carrying them they knew not where.
"I must have left the pepper-box in the Jackdaws' nest," said the Scarecrow,
at length.
"It is a great misfortune," the Tin Woodman declared. "But we are no worse
off than before we discovered the Wishing Pills."
"We are better off," replied Tip. "for the one pill we used has enabled us
to escape from that horrible nest."
The Marvelous Land 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 Baby Mine by Margaret Mayo: the first time in his life, Jimmy disobeyed Aggie's orders, and,
later on, when he "trundled off to bed" alone, he again recalled
that it was Zoie Hardy who was always causing hard feeling
between him and his spouse.
Some hours later, when Aggie reached home with misgivings because
Jimmy had not joined her, she was surprised to find him sleeping
as peacefully as a cherub. "Poor dear," she murmured, "I hope he
wasn't lonesome." And she stole away to her room.
The next morning when Aggie did not appear at the breakfast
table, Jimmy rushed to her room in genuine alarm. It was now
Aggie's turn to sleep peacefully; and he stole dejectedly back to
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