| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum: themselves in a disagreeable country, full of bogs and marshes and
covered with tall, rank grass. It was difficult to walk without
falling into muddy holes, for the grass was so thick that it hid
them from sight. However, by carefully picking their way, they
got safely along until they reached solid ground. But here the
country seemed wilder than ever, and after a long and tiresome
walk through the underbrush they entered another forest, where the
trees were bigger and older than any they had ever seen.
"This forest is perfectly delightful," declared the Lion, looking
around him with joy. "Never have I seen a more beautiful place."
"It seems gloomy," said the Scarecrow.
The Wizard of Oz |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates by Howard Pyle: threatened to strike me with his cane. But I know who he is and
what he is. I know what he's got in his cabin in those two
trunks, and where he found it, and whom it belongs to. He found
it on the shores of the Rio Cobra River, and I have only to open
my mouth and tell what I know about it."
At this Captain Manly clapped his hand upon our hero's shoulder
and fell to shaking him so that he could scarcely stand, calling
out to him the while to be silent. "What do you mean?" he cried.
"An officer of this ship to quarrel with a passenger of mine! Go
straight to your cabin, and stay there till I give you leave to
come out again."
Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Tour Through Eastern Counties of England by Daniel Defoe: come to it, there are sometimes no less than fifty hackney coaches
which come from London, and ply night and morning to carry the
people to and from Cambridge; for there the gross of the people
lodge; nay, which is still more strange, there are wherries brought
from London on waggons to ply upon the little river Cam, and to row
people up and down from the town, and from the fair as occasion
presents.
It is not to be wondered at, if the town of Cambridge cannot
receive, or entertain the numbers of people that come to this fair;
not Cambridge only, but all the towns round are full; nay, the very
barns and stables are turned into inns, and made as fit as they can
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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 O Pioneers! by Willa Cather: When he was satisfied with the edge of his
blade, he slipped the whetstone into his hip
pocket and began to swing his scythe, still
whistling, but softly, out of respect to the quiet
folk about him. Unconscious respect, probably,
for he seemed intent upon his own thoughts,
and, like the Gladiator's, they were far away.
He was a splendid figure of a boy, tall and
straight as a young pine tree, with a hand-
some head, and stormy gray eyes, deeply set
under a serious brow. The space between his
O Pioneers! |
