| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Prufrock/Other Observations by T. S. Eliot: Morning at the Window
The Boston Evening Transcript
Aunt Helen
Cousin Nancy
Mr. Apollinax
Hysteria
Conversation Galante
La Figlia Che Piange
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
S'io credesse che mia risposta fosse
A persona che mai tornasse al mondo,
Prufrock/Other Observations |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Master Key by L. Frank Baum: me, can you trust your chief of police?"
"I think so," said the President, slowly; "yet since your invention
has shown me that many men I have considered honest are criminally
implicated in this royalist plot, I hardly know whom to depend upon."
"Then please wear these spectacles during your interview with the
minister of police," said the boy. "You must say nothing, while he
is with us, about certain marks that will appear upon his forehead;
but when he has gone I will explain those marks so you will
understand them."
The President covered his eyes with the spectacles.
"Why," he exclaimed, "I see upon your own brow the letters--"
The Master Key |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Symposium by Xenophon: to turn their backs on me,[80] but if ever it goes ill with them, they
claim relationship by birth,[81] and will not let their long-lost
cousin out of sight.
[80] Or, "they take good care to get out of my way," "they hold aloof
from me entirely."
[81] Or, "produce the family-pedigree and claim me for a cousin." Cf.
Lucian v., "Tim." 49; Ter. "Phorm." ii. 33, 45.
Charm. Well, well! and you, sir (turning to the Syracusan), what do
you pride yourself upon? No doubt, upon the boy?
The Syr. Not I, indeed; I am terribly afraid concerning him. It is
plain enough to me that certain people are contriving for his
The Symposium |
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 Philebus by Plato: painless, being the pure pleasures of the soul herself, as we termed them,
which accompany, some the sciences, and some the senses.
PROTARCHUS: Perhaps.
SOCRATES: And now, as Orpheus says,
'With the sixth generation cease the glory of my song.'
Here, at the sixth award, let us make an end; all that remains is to set
the crown on our discourse.
PROTARCHUS: True.
SOCRATES: Then let us sum up and reassert what has been said, thus
offering the third libation to the saviour Zeus.
PROTARCHUS: How?
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