| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz by L. Frank Baum: incline, and the wanderers made such good progress that they grew
hopeful and eager, thinking they might see sunshine at any minute.
But at length they came unexpectedly upon a huge rock that shut off
the passage and blocked them from proceeding a single step farther.
This rock was separate from the rest of the mountain and was in
motion, turning slowly around and around as if upon a pivot. When
first they came to it there was a solid wall before them; but
presently it revolved until there was exposed a wide, smooth path
across it to the other side. This appeared so unexpectedly that they
were unprepared to take advantage of it at first, and allowed the
rocky wall to swing around again before they had decided to pass over.
Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Songs of Innocence and Experience by William Blake: O what a multitude they seemed, these flowers of London town!
Seated in companies they sit, with radiance all their own.
The hum of multitudes was there, but multitudes of lambs,
Thousands of little boys and girls raising their innocent hands.
Now like a mighty wind they raise to heaven the voice of song,
Or like harmonious thunderings the seats of heaven among:
Beneath them sit the aged men, wise guardians of the poor.
Then cherish pity, lest you drive an angel from your door.
NIGHT
The sun descending in the West,
The evening star does shine;
Songs of Innocence and Experience |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Dead Souls by Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol: open) there were appearing the noses of three horses--one to the
right, one in the middle, and one to the left, after the fashion of
triumphal groups of statuary. Above them, on the box seat, were seated
a coachman and a valet, while behind, again, there could be discerned
a gentleman in a scarf and a fur cap. Only when the equipage had
entered the courtyard did it stand revealed as a light spring
britchka. And as it came to a halt, there leapt on to the verandah of
the mansion an individual of respectable exterior, and possessed of
the art of moving with the neatness and alertness of a military man.
Upon this Tientietnikov's heart stood still. He was unused to
receiving visitors, and for the moment conceived the new arrival to be
Dead Souls |
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 Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne: vel subjecto circumcisionis,--for he had brought up Spenser de Legibus
Hebraeorum Ritualibus--and Maimonides, in order to confront and examine us
altogether.--
--If it be but right done, quoth he:--only tell us, cried my mother,
interrupting him, what herbs?--For that, replied my father, you must send
for Dr. Slop.
My mother went down, and my father went on, reading the section as follows,
. . .--Very well,--said my father,. . .--nay, if it has that convenience--
and so without stopping a moment to settle it first in his mind, whether
the Jews had it from the Egyptians, or the Egyptians from the Jews,--he
rose up, and rubbing his forehead two or three times across with the palm
|
