| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen: was secured. It is all over with Frederick indeed! He is
a deceased man--defunct in understanding. Prepare for your
sister-in-law, Eleanor, and such a sister-in-law as you must
delight in! Open, candid, artless, guileless, with affections
strong but simple, forming no pretensions, and knowing no disguise."
"Such a sister-in-law, Henry, I should delight in,"
said Eleanor with a smile.
"But perhaps," observed Catherine, "though she has
behaved so ill by our family, she may behave better
by yours. Now she has really got the man she likes,
she may be constant."
Northanger Abbey |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Patchwork Girl of Oz by L. Frank Baum: to life, and the accident to Unc Nunkie and
Margolotte, and of Ojo's quest and his journey
with Dorothy. Glinda also knew that Ojo would
fail to find all the things he sought, so she sent
for our Wizard and instructed him what to do.
Something is going to happen in this palace,
presently, and that 'something' will, I am sure,
please you all. And now," continued the girl
Ruler, rising from her chair, "you may follow
me into the next room."
Chapter Twenty-Eight
The Patchwork Girl of Oz |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Elizabeth and her German Garden by Marie Annette Beauchamp: you're writing to Him now, isn't you?"
I cannot see that there was anything gross about our Christmas,
and we were perfectly merry without any need to pretend, and for at least
two days it brought us a little nearer together, and made us kind.
Happiness is so wholesome; it invigorates and warms me into piety
far more effectually than any amount of trials and griefs, and an
unexpected pleasure is the surest means of bringing me to my knees.
In spite of the protestations of some peculiarly constructed
persons that they are the better for trials, I don't believe it.
Such things must sour us, just as happiness must sweeten us,
and make us kinder, and more gentle. And will anybody affirm that it
Elizabeth and her German Garden |
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 Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath by H. P. Lovecraft: its horrible stone villages and unmentionable monastery were really
there, or whether the rumour were only a fear that timid people
felt in the night when those formidable barrier peaks loomed black
against a rising moon. Certainly, men reached Leng from very different
oceans. Of other boundaries of Inquanok those sailors had no notion,
nor had they heard of the cold waste and unknown Kadath save from
vague unplaced report. And of the marvellous sunset city which
Carter sought they knew nothing at all. So the traveller asked
no more of far things, but bided his time till he might talk with
those strange men from cold and twilight Inquanok who are the
seed of such gods as carved their features on Ngranek.
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath |
