| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Child of Storm by H. Rider Haggard: noted that he tied it well and tight. Zikali whirled round upon his
heels, first one way and then another, and, crying aloud: "Guide me, my
Spirit!" marched forward in a zigzag fashion, as a blindfolded man does,
with his arms stretched out in front of him. First he went to the
right, then to the left, and then straight forward, till at length, to
my astonishment, he came exactly opposite the spot where Masapo sat and,
stretching out his great, groping hands, seized the kaross with which he
was covered and, with a jerk, tore it from him.
"Search this!" he cried, throwing it on the ground, and a woman
searched.
Presently she uttered an exclamation, and from among the fur of one of
Child of Storm |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Reef by Edith Wharton: your eyes!"
He stood speechless, and she pressed on: "Don't deny it--oh,
don't deny it! What will be left for me to imagine if you
do? Don't you see how every single thing cries it out? Owen
sees it--he saw it again just now! When I told him she'd
relented, and would see him, he said: 'Is that Darrow's
doing too?'"
Darrow took the onslaught in silence. He might have spoken,
have summoned up the usual phrases of banter and denial; he
was not even certain that they might not, for the moment,
have served their purpose if he could have uttered them
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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 Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe: had so little for themselves, it was but too true that they had at
first kept them very low, and at last totally neglected them: so
that for six or seven days it might be said they had really no food
at all, and for several days before very little. The poor mother,
who, as the men reported, was a woman of sense and good breeding,
had spared all she could so affectionately for her son, that at
last she entirely sank under it; and when the mate of our ship went
in, she sat upon the floor on deck, with her back up against the
sides, between two chairs, which were lashed fast, and her head
sunk between her shoulders like a corpse, though not quite dead.
My mate said all he could to revive and encourage her, and with a
Robinson Crusoe |
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 Court Life in China by Isaac Taylor Headland: mother-in-law of that imperial household, with the Emperor, the
Empress, sixty concubines, two thousand eunuchs, and any number
of court ladies and maid-servants. Their expenses were enormous
and she must keep her eye on every detail. The food they ate was
similar to that used by all the Chinese people. I happen to know
this, because one of her eunuchs who visited me frequently to ask
my assistance in a matter which he had undertaken for the
Emperor, often brought me various kinds of meat, or other
delicacies of a like nature, from the imperial kitchens.
I want you to visit three of the imperial temples in these
beautiful palace grounds. The first is a tall, three-story
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