| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Treatise on Parents and Children by George Bernard Shaw: the slip if it is not religiously inculcated and strongly safeguarded.
Besides, men are born docile, and must in the nature of things remain
so with regard to everything they do not understand. Now political
science and the art of govemment are among the things they do not
understand, and indeed are not at present allowed to understand. They
can be enslaved by a system, as we are at present, because it happens
to be there, and nobody understands it. An intelligently worked
Capitalist system, as Comte saw, would give us all that most of us are
intelligent enough to want. What makes it produce such unspeakably
vile results is that it is an automatic system which is as little
understood by those who profit by it in money as by those who are
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Catherine de Medici by Honore de Balzac: you, no, my daughter-in-law!--but I wish /you/ the fate of being a
prisoner in your own home, that you may know what you have made me
suffer."
"Their plans!" exclaimed Chiverni; "the duke and the cardinal know
what they are, but those two foxes will not divulge them. If you could
induce them to do so, madame, I would sacrifice myself for your sake
and come to an understanding with the Prince de Conde."
"How much of the Guises' own plans have they been forced to reveal to
you?" asked the queen, with a glance at the two brothers.
"Monsieur de Vieilleville and Monsieur de Saint-Andre have just
received fresh orders, the nature of which is concealed from us; but I
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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 The Magic of Oz by L. Frank Baum: exclaimed: "How funny it is, Cap'n Bill, that nothing else grows here
excep' the Magic Flower."
Then the sailor glanced at the island and saw that it was all bare
ground, without a weed, a stone or a blade of grass. Trot, eager to
examine the Flower closer, sprang from the raft and ran up the bank
until she reached the Golden Flower-pot. Then she stood beside it
motionless and filled with wonder. Cap'n Bill joined her, coming more
leisurely, and he, too, stood in silent admiration for a time.
"Ozma will like this," remarked the Glass Cat, sitting down to watch
the shifting hues of the flowers. "I'm sure she won't have as fine a
birthday present from anyone else."
The Magic of Oz |
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 Collected Articles by Frederick Douglass: Upon an occasion of his own selection, with the advice and approval
of his astute Secretary, soon after the members of the Congress had returned
to their constituents, the President quitted the executive mansion,
sandwiched himself between two recognized heroes,--men whom the whole country
delighted to honor,--and, with all the advantage which such company
could give him, stumped the country from the Atlantic to the Mississippi,
advocating everywhere his policy as against that of Congress.
It was a strange sight, and perhaps the most disgraceful exhibition
ever made by any President; but, as no evil is entirely unmixed,
good has come of this, as from many others. Ambitious, unscrupulous,
energetic, indefatigable, voluble, and plausible,--a political gladiator,
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