| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Tanach: 2_Chronicles 28: 16 At that time did king Ahaz send unto the kings of Assyria to help him.
2_Chronicles 28: 17 For again the Edomites had come and smitten Judah, and carried away captives.
2_Chronicles 28: 18 The Philistines also had invaded the cities of the Lowland, and of the South of Judah, and had taken Beth-shemesh, and Aijalon, and Gederoth, and Soco with the towns thereof, and Timnah with the towns thereof, Gimzo also and the towns thereof; and they dwelt there.
2_Chronicles 28: 19 For the LORD brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of Israel; for he had cast away restraint in Judah, and acted treacherously against the LORD.
2_Chronicles 28: 20 And Tillegath-pilneser king of Assyria came unto him, and distressed him, but strengthened him not.
2_Chronicles 28: 21 For Ahaz stripped the house of the LORD, and the house of the king and the princes, and gave thereof unto the king of Assyria; but it helped him not.
2_Chronicles 28: 22 And in the time of his distress did he act even more treacherously against the LORD, this same king Ahaz.
2_Chronicles 28: 23 For he sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus, which smote him; and he said: 'Because the gods of the kings of Aram helped them, therefore will I sacrifice to them, that they may help me.' But they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel.
2_Chronicles 28: 24 And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God, and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and shut up the doors of the house of the LORD; and he made him alt 
The Tanach |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Lady Baltimore by Owen Wister: neighbor no less sweeping, but it conveyed them in a phraseology far more
restrained.
"I cannot regret your coming to Kings Port," said my hostess, after we
had talked for a little while, and I had complimented the balmy March
weather and the wealth of blooming flowers; "but I fear that Fanning is
not a name that you will find here. It belongs to North Carolina."
I smiled and explained that North Carolina Fannings were useless to me.
"And, if I may be so bold, how well you are acquainted with my errand!"
I cannot say that my hostess smiled, that would be too definite; but I
can say that she did not permit herself to smile, and that she let me see
this repression. "Yes," she said, "we are acquainted with your errand,
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Ozma of Oz by L. Frank Baum: yellow hen tried to enter after them, the little maid cried "Shoo!"
and flapped her apron in Billina's face.
"Shoo, yourself!" retorted the hen, drawing back in anger and ruffling
up her feathers. "Haven't you any better manners than that?"
"Oh, do you talk?" enquired the maid, evidently surprised.
"Can't you hear me?" snapped Billina. "Drop that apron, and get out of
the doorway, so that I may enter with my friends!"
"The Princess won't like it," said the maid, hesitating.
"I don't care whether she likes it or not," replied Billina, and
fluttering her wings with a loud noise she flew straight at the maid's
face. The little servant at once ducked her head, and the hen reached
Ozma of Oz |
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 Silverado Squatters by Robert Louis Stevenson: "Et tout tremble, Irun, Coimbre,
Sautander, Almodovar,
Sitot qu'on entend le timbre
Des cymbales do Bivar."
The redbreasts and the brooks of Europe, in that dry and
songless land; brave old names and wars, strong cities,
cymbals, and bright armour, in that nook of the mountain,
sacred only to the Indian and the bear! This is still the
strangest thing in all man's travelling, that he should carry
about with him incongruous memories. There is no foreign
land; it is the traveller only that is foreign, and now and
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