| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from King James Bible: that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months.
EXO 2:3 And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark
of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child
therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink.
EXO 2:4 And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to
him.
EXO 2:5 And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the
river; and her maidens walked along by the river's side; and when she
saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it.
EXO 2:6 And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the
babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the
King James Bible |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Padre Ignacio by Owen Wister: "Did you reach Malaga from Marseilles or Gibraltar?" asked the Padre,
wistfully.
"From Marseilles. Down from Paris through the Rhone Valley, you know."
"Then you saw Provence! And did you go, perhaps, from Avignon to Nismes
by the Pont du Gard? There is a place I have made here--a little, little
place--with olive-trees. And now they have grown, and it looks something
like that country, if you stand in a particular position. I will take you
there to-morrow. I think you will understand what I mean."
"Another resemblance!" said the volatile and happy Gaston. "We both seem
to have an eye for them. But, believe me, Padre, I could never stay here
planting olives. I should go back and see the original ones--and then I'd
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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 Mucker by Edgar Rice Burroughs: over, as though the words held him in the thrall of fascination:
"There ain't no sweet Penelope somewhere that's longing
much for me."
Bridge eyed the packages as Billy deposited them carefully
and one at a time upon the grass beside the fire. The milk was
in a clean little graniteware pail, the eggs had been placed in a
paper bag, while the other articles were wrapped in pieces of
newspaper.
As the opening of each revealed its contents, fresh, clean,
and inviting, Bridge closed one eye and cocked the other up
at Billy.
The Mucker |
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 A Straight Deal by Owen Wister: they're Germans--he hired to come over here and kill Americans and do his
dirty work for him? And his Germans did the same dirty work the Kaiser's
are doing now. We've got a letter written after the battle of Long Island
by a member of our family they took prisoner there. And they stripped him
and they stole his things and they beat him down with the butts of their
guns--after he had surrendered, mind--when he was surrendered and naked,
and when he was down they beat him some more. That's Germans for you.
Only they've been getting worse while the rest of the world's been
getting better. Get your facts straight, man."
A number of us were now listening to this, and I envied the historian his
ingenious promptness--I have none--and I hoped for more of this timely
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