| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift: on their heads, but none on their faces, nor any thing more than
a sort of down on the rest of their bodies, except about the anus
and pudenda. The dugs hung between their fore feet, and often
reached almost to the ground as they walked. The hair of both
sexes was of several colours, brown, red, black, and yellow.
Upon the whole, I never beheld, in all my travels, so
disagreeable an animal, or one against which I naturally
conceived so strong an antipathy. So that, thinking I had seen
enough, full of contempt and aversion, I got up, and pursued the
beaten road, hoping it might direct me to the cabin of some
Indian. I had not got far, when I met one of these creatures
Gulliver's Travels |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Men of Iron by Howard Pyle: won the battle at his leisure and most easily; as it was, he
struggled violently to wrench the gisarm away from Myles. In that
short, fierce struggle Myles was dragged to his knees, and then,
still holding the weapon with one hand, he clutched the trappings
of the Earl's horse with the other. The next moment he was upon
his feet. The other struggled to thrust him away, but Myles,
letting go the gisarm, which he held with his left hand, clutched
him tightly by the sword-belt in the intense, vise-like grip of
despair. In vain the Earl strove to beat him loose with the shaft
of the gisarm, in vain he spurred and reared his horse to shake
him off; Myles held him tight, in spite of all his struggles.
Men of Iron |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Prufrock/Other Observations by T. S. Eliot: And in short, I was afraid.
And would it have been worth it, after all,
After the cups, the marmalade, the tea,
Among the porcelain, among some talk of you and me,
Would it have been worth while,
To have bitten off the matter with a smile,
To have squeezed the universe into a ball
To roll it toward some overwhelming question,
To say: "I am Lazarus, come from the dead,
Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all"--
If one, settling a pillow by her head,
Prufrock/Other Observations |
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 Tik-Tok of Oz by L. Frank Baum: resign if I want to."
"Indeed you haven't!" retorted the Queen. "If
you resign it will break up my Army, and then I
cannot conquer the world." She now turned to the
officers and said: "I must ask you to do me a
favor. I know it is undignified in officers to
fight, but unless you immediately capture Private
Files and force him to obey my orders there will
be no plunder for any of us. Also it is likely you
will all suffer the pangs of hunger, and when we
meet a powerful foe you are liable to be captured
Tik-Tok of Oz |
