| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Call of Cthulhu by H. P. Lovecraft: over endless vistas of green-crusted rock to the boat, and Johansen
swears he was swallowed up by an angle of masonry which shouldn't
have been there; an angle which was acute, but behaved as if it
were obtuse. So only Briden and Johansen reached the boat, and
pulled desperately for the Alert as the mountainous monstrosity
flopped down the slimy stones and hesitated, floundering at the
edge of the water.
Steam had not been suffered to go down entirely,
despite the departure of all hands for the shore; and it was the
work of only a few moments of feverish rushing up and down between
wheel and engines to get the Alert under way. Slowly, amidst the
Call of Cthulhu |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe: time, I'll talk more."
Tom silently left the room.
CHAPTER XXVIII
Reunion
Week after week glided away in the St. Clare mansion, and
the waves of life settled back to their usual flow, where that
little bark had gone down. For how imperiously, how coolly, in
disregard of all one's feeling, does the hard, cold, uninteresting
course of daily realities move on! Still must we eat, and drink,
and sleep, and wake again,--still bargain, buy, sell, ask and answer
questions,--pursue, in short, a thousand shadows, though all interest
Uncle Tom's Cabin |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Light of Western Stars by Zane Grey: place. Once with a little jump he cleared the wash. Then
Madeline noted that the farther rim was somewhat lower. In a
flash she divined Link's intention. He was hunting a place to
jump the car over the crack in the ground.
Soon he found one that seemed to suit him, for he tied his red
scarf upon a greasewood-bush. Then, returning to the car, he
clambered in, and, muttering, broke his long silence: "This ain't
no air-ship, hut I've outfiggered thet damn wash." He backed up
the gentle slope and halted just short of steeper ground. His
red scarf waved in the wind. Hunching low over the wheel, he
started, slowly at first, then faster, and then faster. The
The Light of Western Stars |
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 Story of an African Farm by Olive Schreiner: "In the afternoon he looked into the shop, and called out: 'Hope you got
your saddle, Farber? Your bag-of-bones kicked out six miles from here.
I'll send you a couple of shillings tomorrow, though the old hide wasn't
worth it. Good morning.'
"But I sprung over the counter, and got him by his throat. My father was
so gentle with her; he never would ride her up hill, and now this fellow
had murdered her! I asked him where he had killed her, and I shook him
till he slipped out of my hand. He stood in the door grinning.
"'It didn't take much to kill that bag-of-bones, whose master sleeps in a
packing-case, and waits till his company's finished to eat on the plate.
Shouldn't wonder if you fed her on sugar-bags,' he said; 'and if you think
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