| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne: chain of mountains was indefinitely prolonged like an immense system
of natural fortifications, of which we were following the
counter-scarp or lesser steep; often we were met by streams, which we
had to ford with great care, not to wet our packages.
The desert became wider and more hideous; yet from time to time we
seemed to descry a human figure that fled at our approach, sometimes
a sharp turn would bring us suddenly within a short distance of one
of these spectres, and I was filled with loathing at the sight of a
huge deformed head, the skin shining and hairless, and repulsive
sores visible through the gaps in the poor creature's wretched rags.
The unhappy being forbore to approach us and offer his misshapen
Journey to the Center of the Earth |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Kwaidan by Lafcadio Hearn: the name of it is Shinkiro, which signifies "Mirage." But the shapes of the
mirage are unmistakable. Those are the glimmering portals of Horai the
blest; and those are the moony roofs of the Palace of the Dragon-King;--
and the fashion of them (though limned by a Japanese brush of to-day) is
the fashion of things Chinese, twenty-one hundred years ago...
Thus much is told of the place in the Chinese books of that time:--
In Horai there is neither death nor pain; and there is no winter. The
flowers in that place never fade, and the fruits never fail; and if a man
taste of those fruits even but once, he can never again feel thirst or
hunger. In Horai grow the enchanted plants So-rin-shi, and Riku-go-aoi, and
Ban-kon-to, which heal all manner of sickness;-- and there grows also the
Kwaidan |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Ozma of Oz by L. Frank Baum: "You seem very durable," said Dorothy. "Who made you?"
"The firm of Smith & Tin-ker, in the town of Evna, where the roy-al
pal-ace stands," answered Tiktok.
"Did they make many of you?" asked the child.
"No; I am the on-ly au-to-mat-ic me-chan-i-cal man they ev-er
com-plet-ed," he replied. "They were ver-y won-der-ful in-ven-tors,
were my mak-ers, and quite ar-tis-tic in all they did."
"I am sure of that," said Dorothy. "Do they live in the town of
Evna now?"
"They are both gone," replied the machine. "Mr. Smith was an art-ist,
as well as an in-vent-or, and he paint-ed a pic-ture of a riv-er
Ozma 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 The Exiles by Honore de Balzac: instinctive repulsion, of strong affinities which transcend the laws
of space, of the sudden mingling of souls which seem to recognize each
other. With regard to the different degrees of strength of which our
affections are capable, he accounted for them by the place, more or
less near the centre, occupied by beings in their respective circles.
He gave mathematical expression to God's grand idea in the
co-ordination of the various human spheres. "Through man," he said,
"these spheres constituted a world intermediate between the
intelligence of the brute and the intelligence of the angels." As he
stated it, the divine Word nourishes the spiritual Word, the spiritual
Word nourishes the living Word, the living Word nourishes the animal
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