| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Baby Mine by Margaret Mayo: Jimmy looked up at Aggie with affected innocence, then rolled his
round eyes away from her. He was confronted by Zoie, who had
approached from the opposite side of the room.
"It's Fate," declared Zoie, in awe-struck tones.
Jimmy was beginning to wriggle, but he kept up a last desperate
presence of not understanding them.
"You needn't tell me I'm going to take the wash to the old lady,"
he said, "for I'm not going to do it."
"It isn't the WASH," said Aggie, and her tone warned him that she
expected no nonsense from him.
"You know what we are thinking about just as well as we do," said
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Scarecrow of Oz by L. Frank Baum: part of it, so the Scarecrow was the only one who knew
the paths and could lead them. They had eaten a hearty
breakfast, which they found already prepared for them and
awaiting them on the table when they arose from their
refreshing sleep, so they left the magic house in a
contented mood and with hearts lighter and more happy
than they had known for many a day. As they marched
along through the fields, the sun shone brightly and the
breeze was laden with delicious fragrance, for it carried
with it the breath of millions of wildflowers.
At noon, when they stopped to rest by the bank of a
The Scarecrow 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 Large Catechism by Dr. Martin Luther: in vain, that we are there required to praise that holy name, and call
upon it in every need, or to pray. For to call upon the name of God is
nothing else than to pray. Prayer is therefore as strictly and
earnestly commanded as all other commandments: to have no other God,
not to kill, not to steal, etc. Let no one think that it is all the
same whether he pray or not, as vulgar people do, who grope in such
delusion and ask Why should I pray? Who knows whether God heeds or will
hear my prayer? If I do not pray, some one else will. And thus they
fall into the habit of never praying, and frame a pretext, as though we
taught that there is no duty or need of prayer, because we reject false
and hypocritical prayers.
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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 Kenilworth by Walter Scott: the hand of the former, and said in a low but marked and decided
tone, "Father, I will fill for my noble mistress, when such is
her pleasure."
"Thou, my child?" said Foster, eagerly and apprehensively; "no,
my child--it is not THOU shalt render the lady this service."
"And why, I pray you," said Janet, "if it be fitting that the
noble lady should partake of the cup at all?"
"Why--why?" said the seneschal, hesitating, and then bursting
into passion as the readiest mode of supplying the lack of all
other reason--"why, because it is my pleasure, minion, that you
should not! Get you gone to the evening lecture."
Kenilworth |
