| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from At the Earth's Core by Edgar Rice Burroughs: was to be seen that might threaten my new-found liberty,
I slid over the edge of the bluff, and half sliding,
half falling, dropped into the delightful valley,
the very aspect of which seemed to offer a haven of peace
and security.
The gently sloping beach along which I walked was thickly
strewn with strangely shaped, colored shells; some empty,
others still housing as varied a multitude of mollusks
as ever might have drawn out their sluggish lives along the
silent shores of the antediluvian seas of the outer crust.
As I walked I could not but compare myself with the first
At the Earth's Core |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Symposium by Plato: Agathon, he took the ribands from his own head and held them in front of
his eyes; he was thus prevented from seeing Socrates, who made way for him,
and Alcibiades took the vacant place between Agathon and Socrates, and in
taking the place he embraced Agathon and crowned him. Take off his
sandals, said Agathon, and let him make a third on the same couch.
By all means; but who makes the third partner in our revels? said
Alcibiades, turning round and starting up as he caught sight of Socrates.
By Heracles, he said, what is this? here is Socrates always lying in wait
for me, and always, as his way is, coming out at all sorts of unsuspected
places: and now, what have you to say for yourself, and why are you lying
here, where I perceive that you have contrived to find a place, not by a
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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 The Case of The Lamp That Went Out by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner: telegram, a door outside was opened and the commissioner covered the
watch hastily. There was a loud knock at his own door and an
attendant entered to announce that the party from Pressburg had
arrived He was followed by one of the Pressburg police force, who
brought the official report.
"Did you have any difficulty with him?" asked the commissioner.
"Oh, no, sir; it was a very easy job. He made no resistance at all,
and he seems to be quite sober now. But he hasn't said a word since
we arrested him."
Then followed the detailed report of the arrest, and the delivery of
the described pocketbook to the commissioner.
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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 The Rape of Lucrece by William Shakespeare: To their salt sovereign, with their fresh falls' haste,
Add to his flow, but alter not his taste.'
'Thou art,' quoth she, 'a sea, a sovereign king;
And, lo, there falls into thy boundless flood
Black lust, dishonour, shame, misgoverning,
Who seek to stain the ocean of thy blood.
If all these petty ills shall change thy good,
Thy sea within a puddle's womb is hears'd,
And not the puddle in thy sea dispers'd.
'So shall these slaves be king, and thou their slave;
Thou nobly base, they basely dignified;
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