| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath by H. P. Lovecraft: the column advanced out of the tiled streets and into nighted
plains of obscene fungi, soon commencing to climb one of the lower
and more gradual hills that lay behind the city. That on some
frightful slope or blasphemous plateau the crawling chaos waited,
Carter could not doubt; and he wished that the suspense might
soon be over. The whining of those impious flutes was shocking,
and he would have given worlds for some even half-normal sound;
but these toad-things had no voices, and the slaves did not talk.
Then through that star-specked darkness there did come a normal
sound. It rolled from the higher hills, and from all the jagged
peaks around it was caught up and echoed in a swelling pandaemoniac
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Oakdale Affair by Edgar Rice Burroughs: the THING moved down the hallway to the closed door.
The dragging chain marked each foot of its advance. If it
made other sounds they were drowned by the clanking
of the links over the time roughened flooring.
Within the room the five were frozen into utter si-
lence, and beyond the door an equal quiet prevailed for
a long minute; then a great force made the door creak
and a weird scratching sounded high up upon the old
fashioned panelling. Bridge heard a smothered gasp
from the boy beside him, followed instantly by a flash of
flame and the crack of a small caliber automatic; The
The Oakdale Affair |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Sportsman by Xenophon: docile creature, the self-willed, stubborn brute more rarely, and to a
moderate extent the hound of average capacity, till he either succeeds
in running down or driving into the toils some victim.[43] After which
he will pick up his nets, both small and large alike, giving every
hound a rub down, and return home from the hunting-field, taking care,
if it should chance to be a summer's noon, to halt a bit, so that the
feet of his hounds may not be blistered on the road.
[41] Lit. "anything which earth puts forth or bears upon her bosom."
[42] Or, "Many and many a cast back must he make."
[43] The famous stanzas in "Venus and Adonis" may fitly close this
chapter.
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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 My Aunt Margaret's Mirror by Walter Scott: probability, the sage was very frequently consulted,
To the last moment, when the palace clock struck eight, Lady
Bothwell earnestly watched her sister, in hopes that she might
retreat from her rash undertaking; but as mildness, and even
timidity, is capable at times of vehement and fixed purposes, she
found Lady Forester resolutely unmoved and determined when the
moment of departure arrived. Ill satisfied with the expedition,
but determined not to leave her sister at such a crisis, Lady
Bothwell accompanied Lady Forester through more than one obscure
street and lane, the servant walking before, and acting as their
guide. At length he suddenly turned into a narrow court, and
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