| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Witch, et. al by Anton Chekhov: remember, on a low stool, with a little white kerchief on her
head, wearing a grey gown, and she was so thin, so pale, so
sharp-eyed it made one sad to look at her. Behind her stood a
soldier with a gun. She would not confess her guilt. Some in the
court said she had poisoned her husband and others declared he
had poisoned himself for grief. I was one of the witnesses. When
they questioned me, I told the whole truth according to my oath.
'Hers,' said I, 'is the guilt. It's no good to conceal it; she
did not love her husband, and she had a will of her own. . . .'
The trial began in the morning and towards night they passed this
sentence: to send her to hard labour in Siberia for thirteen
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Ozma of Oz by L. Frank Baum: and then she'll attend to your works. But it must be a great
misfortune not to be alive. I'm sorry for you."
"Why?" asked Tiktok.
"Because you have no brains, as I have," said the Scarecrow.
"Oh, yes, I have," returned Tiktok. "I am fit-ted with Smith &
Tin-ker's Im-proved Com-bi-na-tion Steel Brains. They are what make
me think. What sort of brains are you fit-ted with?"
"I don't know," admitted the Scarecrow. "They were given to me by the
great Wizard of Oz, and I didn't get a chance to examine them before
he put them in. But they work splendidly and my conscience is very
active. Have you a conscience?"
Ozma of Oz |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Voyage to Abyssinia by Father Lobo: encourages commerce among the inhabitants of his empire.
Here the river alters its course, and passes through many various
kingdoms; on the east it leaves Begmeder, or the Land of Sheep, so
called from great numbers that are bred there, beg, in that
language, signifying sheep, and meder, a country. It then waters
the kingdoms of Amhara, Olaca, Choaa, and Damot, which lie on the
left side, and the kingdom of Goiama, which it bounds on the right,
forming by its windings a kind of peninsula. Then entering Bezamo,
a province of the kingdom of Damot, and Gamarchausa, part of Goiama,
it returns within a short day's journey of its spring; though to
pursue it through all its mazes, and accompany it round the kingdom
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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 Old Indian Legends by Zitkala-Sa: stood calmly by, counting on his fingers the buffalo as they
dropped dead to the ground. When the last one fell, he ran thither
and picking up his magic arrow wiped it carefully on the soft
grass. He slipped it into his long fringed quiver.
"He is going to make a feast for some hungry tribe of men or
beasts!" cried the hunters among themselves as they hastened away.
They were afraid of the stranger with the sacred arrow. When
the hunter's tale of the stranger's arrow reached the ears of the
chieftain, his face brightened with a smile. He sent forth fleet
horsemen, to learn of him his birth, his name, and his deeds.
"If he is the avenger with the magic arrow, sprung up from the
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