| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Alexander's Bridge by Willa Cather: MacConnell put his hand in front of her to ward
off some dark object. It proved to be only a lamp-post,
and they beat in farther from the edge of the pavement.
"What do you mean, Mac?" Hilda asked
nervously.
"I was just thinking there might be people
over there you'd be glad to see," he brought
out awkwardly. Hilda said nothing, and as
they walked on MacConnell spoke again,
apologetically: "I hope you don't mind
my knowing about it, Hilda. Don't stiffen up
Alexander's Bridge |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Glasses by Henry James: illusions. It enabled me to exclaim, smiling brightly and feeling
indeed idiotic: "Oh I shall see you again! But I hope you'll have
a very pleasant walk."
"All my walks are pleasant, thank you--they do me such a lot of
good." She was as quiet as a mouse, and her words seemed to me
stupendous in their wisdom. "I take several a day," she continued.
She might have been an ancient woman responding with humility at
the church door to the patronage of the parson. "The more I take
the better I feel. I'm ordered by the doctors to keep all the
while in the air and go in for plenty of exercise. It keeps up my
general health, you know, and if that goes on improving as it has
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Dracula by Bram Stoker: He tells me that he is nearly a hundred, and that he was a sailor
in the Greenland fishing fleet when Waterloo was fought.
He is, I am afraid, a very sceptical person, for when I asked
him about the bells at sea and the White Lady at the abbey
he said very brusquely,
"I wouldn't fash masel' about them, miss. Them things be all
wore out. Mind, I don't say that they never was, but I do say
that they wasn't in my time. They be all very well for comers
and trippers, an' the like, but not for a nice young lady like you.
Them feet-folks from York and Leeds that be always eatin'cured herrin's
and drinkin' tea an' lookin' out to buy cheap jet would creed aught.
Dracula |
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 First Men In The Moon by H. G. Wells: hide shamefully upon a mere satellite, that we equipped ourselves with
huge armfuls of the fungus - whether for missile purposes or not I do not
know - and, heedless of the stabs of the bayonet scrub, we started forth
into the sunshine.
Almost immediately we must have come upon the Selenites. There were six of
them, and they were marching in single file over a rocky place, making the
most remarkable piping and whining sounds. They all seemed to become aware
of us at once, all instantly became silent and motionless, like animals,
with their faces turned towards us.
For a moment I was sobered.
"Insects," murmured Cavor, "insects! And they think I'm going to crawl
The First Men In The Moon |
