| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Lay Morals by Robert Louis Stevenson: have to administer will be no clearer than those we know to-
day, and the body which is to regulate their administration
no wiser than the British Parliament. So that upon all hands
we may look for a form of servitude most galling to the blood
- servitude to many and changing masters, and for all the
slights that accompany the rule of jack-in-office. And if
the Socialistic programme be carried out with the least
fulness, we shall have lost a thing, in most respects not
much to be regretted, but as a moderator of oppression, a
thing nearly invaluable - the newspaper. For the independent
journal is a creature of capital and competition; it stands
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Shadow out of Time by H. P. Lovecraft: starkest terror - excited by vistas which my glimpse had opened
up - began to throng in upon me and cloud my senses.
I thought
of those possible prints in the dust, and trembled at the sound
of my own breathing as I did so. Once again I flashed on the light
and looked at the page as a serpent's victim may look at his destroyer's
eyes and fangs.
Then, with clumsy fingers, in the dark, I closed
the book, put it in its container, and snapped the lid and the
curious, hooked fastener. This was what I must carry back to the
outer world if it truly existed - if the whole abyss truly existed
Shadow out of Time |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Brother of Daphne by Dornford Yates: "I'm all for the story, but I think you'd better be a child and
sit on the hearthrug, too. There's plenty of room."
"A child," said I, sitting down by her side. "My dear, do you
realize that I'm as old as the Cotswold Hills."
"There now, Adam. And so am I."
"No," I said firmly, "certainly not."
"But- "
"I don't care. You're not. Goddesses are immortal and their
youth dies not."
"I suppose I ought to get up and curtsey."
"If you do, I shall have to rise and make you a leg, so please
The Brother of Daphne |
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 Georgics by Virgil: Soon as the fens are parched, and earth with heat
Is gaping, forth he darts into the dry,
Rolls eyes of fire and rages through the fields,
Furious from thirst and by the drought dismayed.
Me list not then beneath the open heaven
To snatch soft slumber, nor on forest-ridge
Lie stretched along the grass, when, slipped his slough,
To glittering youth transformed he winds his spires,
And eggs or younglings leaving in his lair,
Towers sunward, lightening with three-forked tongue.
Of sickness, too, the causes and the signs
Georgics |
