| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson:
Treasure Island |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Christ in Flanders by Honore de Balzac: he could drown his glory in the depths of a pot of beer, or could tell
tales of the wars to the children who admired him, leaving his future
with a light heart in the hands of God. Lastly, there were the two
peasants, used to hardships and toil, labor incarnate, the labor by
which the world lives. These simple folk were indifferent to thought
and its treasures, ready to sink them all in a belief; and their faith
was but so much the more vigorous because they had never disputed
about it nor analyzed it. Such a nature is a virgin soil, conscience
has not been tampered with, feeling is deep and strong; repentance,
trouble, love, and work have developed, purified, concentrated, and
increased their force of will a hundred times, the will--the one thing
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Bickerstaff-Partridge Papers by Jonathan Swift: probable the rest may be in due time; and, I think, I have not
forced the words, by my explication, into any other sense than
what they will naturally bear. If this be granted, I am sure it
must be also allow'd, that the author (whoever he were) was a
person of extraordinary sagacity; and that astrology brought to
such perfection as this, is by no means an art to be despised,
whatever Mr. Bickerstaff, or other merry gentlemen are pleased to
think. As to the tradition of these lines having been writ in the
original by Merlin, I confess I lay not much weight upon it: But
it is enough to justify their authority, that the book from
whence I have transcrib'd them, was printed 170 years ago, as
|
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 Ozma of Oz by L. Frank Baum: just then yawning so widely that he displayed two rows of terrible
teeth and a mouth big enough to startle anyone.
"Dreadfully hungry," answered the Tiger, snapping his jaws together
with a fierce click.
"Then why don't you eat something?" she asked.
"It's no use," said the Tiger sadly. "I've tried that, but I always
get hungry again."
"Why, it is the same with me," said Dorothy. "Yet I keep on eating."
"But you eat harmless things, so it doesn't matter," replied the
Tiger. "For my part, I'm a savage beast, and have an appetite for all
sorts of poor little living creatures, from a chipmunk to fat babies.
Ozma of Oz |
