The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Country Doctor by Honore de Balzac: vary, and thought is thus compelled to detach itself from outward
things and to turn to the infinite that lies within the soul!
"For a man as sincerely in love as I was, the silence and simplicity
of the life, the almost conventual regularity with which the same
things are done daily at the same hours, only deepened and
strengthened love. In that profound calm the interest attaching to the
least action, word, or gesture became immense. I learned to know that,
in the interchange of glances and in answering smiles, there lies an
eloquence and a variety of language far beyond the possibilities of
the most magnificent of spoken phrases; that when the expression of
the feelings is spontaneous and unforced, there is no idea, no joy nor
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Rinkitink In Oz by L. Frank Baum: "Good-bye, my Prince of Pingaree;
A noble King some time you'll be
And long and wisely may you reign
And never face a foe again!"
They cheered him from the shore; they cheered him
from the boats; and then all the oars of the fifty
boats swept downward with a single motion and dipped
their blades into the purple-hued waters of the
Nonestic Ocean.
As the boats shot swiftly over the ripples of the sea
Rinkitink turned to Prince Bobo, who had decided not to
 Rinkitink In Oz |