| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from In the Cage by Henry James: spare. Yet she had taken him in; she knew everything; she had made
up her mind.
He had come back from Paris; everything was re-arranged; the pair
were again shoulder to shoulder in their high encounter with life,
their large and complicated game. The fine soundless pulse of this
game was in the air for our young woman while they remained in the
shop. While they remained? They remained all day; their presence
continued and abode with her, was in everything she did till
nightfall, in the thousands of other words she counted, she
transmitted, in all the stamps she detached and the letters she
weighed and the change she gave, equally unconscious and unerring
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Bickerstaff-Partridge Papers by Jonathan Swift: overturning Philip, and driving him out of Spain.
Some of these predictions are already fulfilled; and it is highly
probable the rest may be in due time; and, I think, I have not
forced the words, by my explication, into any other sense than
what they will naturally bear. If this be granted, I am sure it
must be also allow'd, that the author (whoever he were) was a
person of extraordinary sagacity; and that astrology brought to
such perfection as this, is by no means an art to be despised,
whatever Mr. Bickerstaff, or other merry gentlemen are pleased to
think. As to the tradition of these lines having been writ in the
original by Merlin, I confess I lay not much weight upon it: But
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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 Democracy In America, Volume 2 by Alexis de Toqueville: those of science and literature, is a powerful and enlightened
member of the community, which cannot be disposed of at pleasure,
or oppressed without remonstrance; and which, by defending its
own rights against the encroachments of the government, saves the
common liberties of the country.
In periods of aristocracy every man is always bound so
closely to many of his fellow-citizens, that he cannot be
assailed without their coming to his assistance. In ages of
equality every man naturally stands alone; he has no hereditary
friends whose co- operation he may demand - no class upon whose
sympathy he may rely: he is easily got rid of, and he is trampled
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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 The Magic of Oz by L. Frank Baum: crafty Nome, Ruggedo, conspired with Kiki Aru, the Hyup, all such
attempts had failed. The Oz people suspected no danger. Life in the
world's nicest fairyland was one round of joyous, happy days.
In the center of the Emerald City of Oz, the capital city of Ozma's
dominions, is a vast and beautiful garden, surrounded by a wall inlaid
with shining emeralds, and in the center of this garden stands
Ozma's Royal Palace, the most splendid building ever constructed.
From a hundred towers and domes floated the banners of Oz, which
included the Ozmies, the Munchkins, the Gillikins, the Winkies and the
Quadlings. The banner of the Munchkins is blue, that of the Winkies
yellow; the Gillikin banner is purple, and the Quadling's banner is
The Magic of Oz |
