| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain: to wade off toward the Illinois shore. Tom's heart
began to sink. He glanced at Huck. Huck could
not bear the look, and dropped his eyes. Then he
said:
"I want to go, too, Tom. It was getting so lone-
some anyway, and now it'll be worse. Let's us go,
too, Tom."
"I won't! You can all go, if you want to. I mean
to stay."
"Tom, I better go."
"Well, go 'long -- who's hendering you."
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia by Samuel Johnson: and partake their diversions? In a place where they found business
or amusement, why should you alone sit corroded with idle
melancholy? or why could not you bear for a few months that
condition to which they were condemned for life?"
"The diversions of the women," answered Pekuah, "were only childish
play, by which the mind accustomed to stronger operations could not
be kept busy. I could do all which they delighted in doing by
powers merely sensitive, while my intellectual faculties were flown
to Cairo. They ran from room to room, as a bird hops from wire to
wire in his cage. They danced for the sake of motion, as lambs
frisk in a meadow. One sometimes pretended to be hurt that the
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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 Shadow out of Time by H. P. Lovecraft: the masonry you had dreamed about and seen described in legends.
He meant to write you, but was delayed. Meanwhile, he sent me
most of the magazines with your articles, and I saw at once, from
your drawings and descriptions, that my stones are certainly the
kind you mean. You can appreciate this from the enclosed prints.
Later on you will hear directly from Dr. Boyle.
Now I can understand
how important all this will be to you. Without question we are
faced with the remains of an unknown civilization older than any
dreamed of before, and forming a basis for your legends.
As
Shadow out of Time |
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 Odyssey by Homer: expecting each moment to be our last, Scylla pounced down
suddenly upon us and snatched up my six best men. I was looking
at once after both ship and men, and in a moment I saw their
hands and feet ever so high above me, struggling in the air as
Scylla was carrying them off, and I heard them call out my name
in one last despairing cry. As a fisherman, seated, spear in
hand, upon some jutting rock {104} throws bait into the water to
deceive the poor little fishes, and spears them with the ox's
horn with which his spear is shod, throwing them gasping on to
the land as he catches them one by one--even so did Scylla land
these panting creatures on her rock and munch them up at the
The Odyssey |
