| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs: turf of the arena where the great apes held their councils
and danced the wild orgy of the Dum-Dum.
Though they had come many miles, it was still but
midafternoon, and the amphitheater was bathed in the half
light which filtered through the maze of encircling foliage.
The green turf looked soft and cool and inviting. The myriad
noises of the jungle seemed far distant and hushed to a
mere echo of blurred sounds, rising and falling like the surf
upon a remote shore.
A feeling of dreamy peacefulness stole over Jane as she
sank down upon the grass where Tarzan had placed her, and
Tarzan of the Apes |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne: From this place the sky could be clearly seen, and clouds,
dissipated by the west wind, leaving behind them, even on the summit
of the mountain, their misty remnants--certain proof that they
were only moderately high, for the volcano did not rise more than
eight hundred feet above the level of the ocean. Half an hour
after the Canadian's last exploit we had regained the inner shore.
Here the flora was represented by large carpets of marine crystal,
a little umbelliferous plant very good to pickle, which also bears the name
of pierce-stone and sea-fennel. Conseil gathered some bundles of it.
As to the fauna, it might be counted by thousands of crustacea
of all sorts, lobsters, crabs, spider-crabs, chameleon shrimps,
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Madam How and Lady Why by Charles Kingsley: unnumbered ages and changes, such as one's fancy could not grasp.
But you will agree that, if Master Analysis took that shell to
pieces, Master Synthesis would not be likely to put it together
again; much less to put it together in the right way, in which
Madam How made it.
And what was that?
By making a living animal, which went on growing, that is, making
itself; and making, as it grew, its shell to live in. Synthesis
has not found out yet the first step towards doing that; and, as I
believe, he never will.
But there would be no harm in his trying?
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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 New Poems by Robert Louis Stevenson: BEHOLD, AS GOBLINS DARK OF MIEN
BEHOLD, as goblins dark of mien
And portly tyrants dyed with crime
Change, in the transformation scene,
At Christmas, in the pantomime,
Instanter, at the prompter's cough,
The fairy bonnets them, and they
Throw their abhorred carbuncles off
And blossom like the flowers in May.
- So mankind, to angelic eyes,
So, through the scenes of life below,
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