| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Lair of the White Worm by Bram Stoker: gliding motion. She was already among the snakes when he called out
to warn her. But there seemed to be no need of warning. The snakes
had turned and were wriggling back to the mound as quickly as they
could. He laughed to himself behind his teeth as he whispered, "No
need to fear there. They seem much more afraid of her than she of
them." All the same he began to beat on the ground with a stick
which was lying close to him, with the instinct of one used to such
vermin. In an instant he was alone beside the mound with Lady
Arabella, who appeared quite unconcerned at the incident. Then he
took a long look at her, and her dress alone was sufficient to
attract attention. She was clad in some kind of soft white stuff,
Lair of the White Worm |
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 Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad: in strange, quavering tones.
Was she close enough? Already she was, I won't say in the shadow of the land,
but in the very blackness of it, already swallowed up as it were, gone too
close to be recalled, gone from me altogether.
"Give the mate a call," I said to the young man who stood at my elbow
as still as death. "And turn all hands up."
My tone had a borrowed loudness reverberated from the height of the land.
Several voices cried out together: "We are all on deck, sir."
Then stillness again, with the great shadow gliding closer,
towering higher, without a light, without a sound.
Such a hush had fallen on the ship that she might have been a bark
The Secret Sharer |
