| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Chessmen of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: bone. We have no lungs, for we do not require air. Far below the
levels to which we can take the rykors is a vast network of
burrows where the real life of the kaldane is lived. There the
air-breathing rykor would perish as you would perish. There we
have stored vast quantities of food in hermetically sealed
chambers. It will last forever. Far beneath the surface is water
that will flow for countless ages after the surface water is
exhausted. We are preparing for the time we know must come--the
time when the last vestige of the Barsoomian atmosphere is
spent--when the waters and the food are gone. For this purpose
were we created, that there might not perish from the planet
The Chessmen of Mars |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Ball at Sceaux by Honore de Balzac: and Chatenay. The wealthy Receiver-General had lately purchased in
this part of the world a country-house for his wife, who remained in
Paris only during the session. Though the fair Emilie despised the
commonalty, her feeling was not carried so far as to scorn the
advantages of a fortune acquired in a profession; so she accompanied
her sister to the sumptuous villa, less out of affection for the
members of her family who were visiting there, than because fashion
has ordained that every woman who has any self-respect must leave
Paris in the summer. The green seclusion of Sceaux answered to
perfection the requirements of good style and of the duties of an
official position.
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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 Letters from England by Elizabeth Davis Bancroft: both Aylmer and Whitworth. Mr. Bancroft took out Lady Colchester,
and the old lady was wheeled out precisely as Grandma is.
At table she helped to the fish (cod, garnished round with smelts)
and insisted on carving the turkey herself, which she did extremely
well. By the way, I observe they never carve the breast of a turkey
LONGITUDINALLY, as we do, but in short slices, a little diagonally
from the centre. This makes many more slices, and quite large
enough where there are so many other dishes. The four ENTREE dishes
are always placed on the table when we sit down, according to our
old fashion, and not one by one. They have [them] warmed with hot
water, so that they keep hot while the soup and fish are eaten.
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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 Where There's A Will by Mary Roberts Rinehart: looked in. I glanced around, and it was a man with the reddest
hair I ever saw. Mine was pale by comparison. He was rather
short and heavy-set, and he had a pleasant face, although not
handsome, his nose being slightly bent to the left. But at first
all I could see was his hair.
"Good evening," he said, edging himself in. "Are you Miss
Waters?"
"Yes," I said, rising and getting a glass ready, "although I'm
not called that often, except by people who want to pun on my
name and my business." I looked at him sharply, but he hadn't
intended any pun.
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