| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from In the South Seas by Robert Louis Stevenson: world of wonders.
Not one soul aboard the CASCO had set foot upon the islands, or
knew, except by accident, one word of any of the island tongues;
and it was with something perhaps of the same anxious pleasure as
thrilled the bosom of discoverers that we drew near these
problematic shores. The land heaved up in peaks and rising vales;
it fell in cliffs and buttresses; its colour ran through fifty
modulations in a scale of pearl and rose and olive; and it was
crowned above by opalescent clouds. The suffusion of vague hues
deceived the eye; the shadows of clouds were confounded with the
articulations of the mountains; and the isle and its unsubstantial
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from U. S. Project Trinity Report by Carl Maag and Steve Rohrer: documented. Film badge records show that approximately 355 people
were at the test site at some time during 16 July. The shelter
occupants and 44 men of the evacuation detachment are on this list.
It has not been possible to pinpoint the location of many of the
remaining personnel. Some were at the Base Camp or on Compania Hill.
Since many of these people returned to the test site after shot-time
to work on experiments, their film badges registered exposures from
residual radioactivity on 16 July. Based on the documented personnel
totals, at least the following 263 individuals were at the test site
when the device was detonated (1; 4; 8-10; 13; 15):
o 99 shelter occupants at shelters 9,150 meters north, south, and west
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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 The Girl with the Golden Eyes by Honore de Balzac: until they had ended by flooding him in torrents. He could read, at
last, that page in effect so brilliant, divine its hidden meaning. The
purely physical innocence of Paquita, the bewilderment of her joy,
certain words, obscure at first, but now clear, which had escaped her
in the midst of that joy, all proved to him that he had posed for
another person. As no social corruption was unknown to him, as he
professed a complete indifference towards all perversities, and
believed them to be justified on the simple ground that they were
capable of satisfaction, he was not startled at vice, he knew it as
one knows a friend, but he was wounded at having served as sustenance
for it. If his presumption was right, he had been outraged in the most
The Girl with the Golden Eyes |
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 Vision Splendid by William MacLeod Raine: imprisoned sunlight woven in her hair, than the gallant poise of
the little head above the slender figure. Though these set his
heart beating wildly, a sure instinct told him of the fine and
exquisite spirit that found its home in her body.
She was leaning forward in her chair, her eyes fixed on James
almost as if she were fascinated by his oratory. Her father
watched her, a trifle amused at her eagerness. In her admiration
she was frank as a boy. When Farnum's last period was rounded out
and he made to leave the stage her gloved hands beat together in
excited applause.
After the ceremonies were over James came straight to her. Jeff
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