| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Mosses From An Old Manse by Nathaniel Hawthorne: But--would your worship believe it?--my broomstick hath strangely
disappeared, stolen, as I suspect, by that unhanged witch, Goody
Cory, and that, too, when I was all anointed with the juice of
smallage, and cinquefoil, and wolf's bane"
"Mingled with fine wheat and the fat of a new-born babe," said
the shape of old Goodman Brown.
"Ah, your worship knows the recipe," cried the old lady, cackling
aloud. "So, as I was saying, being all ready for the meeting, and
no horse to ride on, I made up my mind to foot it; for they tell
me there is a nice young man to be taken into communion to-night.
But now your good worship will lend me your arm, and we shall be
Mosses From An Old Manse |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Emerald City of Oz by L. Frank Baum: But the rabbit people were, after all, the most amazing things Dorothy
saw. The streets were full of them, and their costumes were so
splendid that the rich dress of the Keeper of the Wicket was
commonplace when compared with the others. Silks and satins of
delicate hues seemed always used for material, and nearly every
costume sparkled with exquisite gems.
But the lady rabbits outshone the gentlemen rabbits in splendor, and
the cut of their gowns was really wonderful. They wore bonnets, too,
with feathers and jewels in them, and some wheeled baby carriages in
which the girl could see wee bunnies. Some were lying asleep while
others lay sucking their paws and looking around them with big pink eyes.
The Emerald City of Oz |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Vision Splendid by William MacLeod Raine: every night she wept herself to sleep for that her one ewe lamb
was lost in a ravenous world.
Tears were for the night. Wan smiles for the day, when she and
Sam, drawn close by a common grief, met to understand each other
with few words. He was back again at his work as curator of the
museum at the State House, a place Jeff had secured for him after
the election.
Outside of Nellie's mother the one friend to whom Sam turned now
was Jeff. He came for comfort, to sit long hours in the office
while Farnum did his night work. Sometimes he would read; more
often sit brooding with his chin in his hands. When the midnight
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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 Twelve Stories and a Dream by H. G. Wells: worn forms of Sevenoaks. So I said--even I have my bright ideas
at times--'if it got down from Sevenoaks to Snooks, why not get it
back from Snooks to Sevenoaks?' And the long and the short of it
is, dear, he couldn't refuse me, and he changed his spelling there
and then to Senoks for the bills of the new lecture. And afterwards,
when we are married, we shall put in the apostrophe and make it
Se'noks. Wasn't it kind of him to mind that fancy of mine, when
many men would have taken offence? But it is just like him all over;
he is as kind as he is clever. Because he knew as well as I did
that I would have had him in spite of it, had he been ten times
Snooks. But he did it all the same."
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