| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Tik-Tok of Oz by L. Frank Baum: upon the earth and longed to rejoin her sisters in
their sky palaces. And on the third day, while she
sat motionless upon a point of rock, whom should
she see slyly creeping up the mountain but
Ruggedo!
The former King looked very forlorn. His clothes
were soiled and torn and he had no sandals upon
his feet or hat upon his head. Having left his
crown and sceptre behind when he fled, the old
nome no longer seemed kingly, but more like a
beggerman.
Tik-Tok of Oz |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Pellucidar by Edgar Rice Burroughs: "David!" be cried. "David, my boy! God has been
good to an old man. He has answered my prayer."
It seems that Perry in his mad flight had plunged over
the brink at about the same point as that at which I had
stepped over it a short time later. Chance had done for
us what long periods of rational labor had failed to
accomplish.
We had crossed the divide. We were upon the side of
the Mountains of the Clouds that we had for so long
been attempting to reach.
We looked about. Below us were green trees and
Pellucidar |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Extracts From Adam's Diary by Mark Twain: I have not seen a fish before that could laugh. This makes me
doubt. ... I have come to like Sunday myself. Superintending
all the week tires a body so. There ought to be more Sundays.
In the old days they were tough, but now they come handy.
Wednesday
It isn't a fish. I cannot quite make out what it is. It makes
curious, devilish noises when not satisfied, and says "goo-goo"
when it is. It is not one of us, for it doesn't walk; it is not
a bird, for it doesn't fly; it is not a frog, for it doesn't hop;
it is not a snake, for it doesn't crawl; I feel sure it is not a
fish, though I cannot get a chance to find out whether it can swim
|
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 Twice Told Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne: subject of all-engrossing interest thrust it, for a time, from
the public recollection. This was the appearance of a dreadful
epidemic, which, in that age and long before and afterwards, was
wont to slay its hundreds and thousands on both sides of the
Atlantic. On the occasion of which we speak, it was distinguished
by a peculiar virulence, insomuch that it has left its
traces--its pit-marks, to use an appropriate figure--on the
history of the country, the affairs of which were thrown into
confusion by its ravages. At first, unlike its ordinary course,
the disease seemed to confine itself to the higher circles of
society, selecting its victims from among the proud, the
Twice Told Tales |
