| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum: Claus jumped up and threw open the door. Before him stood a small
girl holding a smaller brother fast by the hand.
"Is you Tlaus?" she asked, shyly.
"Indeed I am, my dear!" he answered, with a laugh, as he caught both
children in his arms and kissed them. "You are very welcome, and you
have come just in time to share my dinner."
He took them to the table and fed them with fresh milk and nut-cakes.
When they had eaten enough he asked:
"Why have you made this long journey to see me?"
"I wants a tat!" replied little Mayrie; and her brother, who had not
yet learned to speak many words, nodded his head and exclaimed like an
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Passionate Pilgrim by William Shakespeare: He, spying her, bounced in, whereas he stood:
'O Jove,' quoth she, 'why was not I a flood!'
VII.
Fair is my love, but not so fair as fickle;
Mild as a dove, but neither true nor trusty;
Brighter than glass, and yet, as glass is brittle;
Softer than wax, and yet, as iron, rusty:
A lily pale, with damask dye to grace her,
None fairer, nor none falser to deface her.
Her lips to mine how often hath she joined,
Between each kiss her oaths of true love swearing!
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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 War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells: cylinders in absolute silence. It was a crescent with twelve
miles between its horns. Never since the devising of gun-
powder was the beginning of a battle so still. To us and to
an observer about Ripley it would have had precisely the
same effect--the Martians seemed in solitary possession of
the darkling night, lit only as it was by the slender moon, the
stars, the afterglow of the daylight, and the ruddy glare from
St. George's Hill and the woods of Painshill.
But facing that crescent everywhere--at Staines, Hounslow,
Ditton, Esher, Ockham, behind hills and woods south of the
river, and across the flat grass meadows to the north of it,
War of the Worlds |
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 Under the Red Robe by Stanley Weyman: that the travelling merchants, before whom I had played at
treason, had reported the facts; and that on this the Commandant
at Auch had acted. But it seemed unlikely since he had had his
orders too, and under the Cardinal's rule there was small place
for individual enterprise. Frankly I could not understand it,
and found only one thing clear; I might now enter the village as
I pleased.
'I am going on to look into this,' I said to Antoine. 'Come, my
man.' He shrugged his shoulders, and stood still.
'Not I!' be answered, with an oath. 'No soldiers for me I have
lain out one night, and I can lie out another.'
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