| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Black Arrow by Robert Louis Stevenson: The pit was sandy and dry; a shock of brambles hung upon one hedge,
and made a partial shelter; and there the two lads lay down,
keeping close together for the sake of warmth, their quarrel all
forgotten. And soon sleep fell upon them like a cloud, and under
the dew and stars they rested peacefully.
CHAPTER VII - THE HOODED FACE
They awoke in the grey of the morning; the birds were not yet in
full song, but twittered here and there among the woods; the sun
was not yet up, but the eastern sky was barred with solemn colours.
Half starved and over-weary as they were, they lay without moving,
sunk in a delightful lassitude. And as they thus lay, the clang of
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath by H. P. Lovecraft: he sought. Where they dwelt, there must the cold waste lie close,
and within it unknown Kadath and its onyx castle for the Great
Ones. So to Celephais he must go, far distant from the isle of
Oriab, and in such parts as would take him back to Dylath-Teen
and up the Skai to the bridge by Nir, and again into the enchanted
wood of the Zoogs, whence the way would bend northward through
the garden lands by Oukranos to the gilded spires of Thran, where
he might find a galleon bound over the Cerenarian Sea.
But dusk
was now thick, and the great carven face looked down even sterner
in shadow. Perched on that ledge night found the seeker; and in
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Burning Daylight by Jack London: of it. The man relieved dropped behind the sled, occasionally
leaping upon it and resting.
It was severe work, but of the sort that was exhilarating.
They were flying, getting over the ground, making the most of the
packed trail. Later on they would come to the unbroken trail,
where three miles an hour would constitute good going. Then
there would be no riding and resting, and no running. Then the
gee-pole would be the easier task, and a man would come back to
it to rest after having completed his spell to the fore, breaking
trail with the snowshoes for the dogs. Such work was far from
exhilarating also, they must expect places where for miles at a
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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 Droll Stories, V. 1 by Honore de Balzac: the other secret doctrines, ecclesiastical arrangements, and
speculations which are part and parcel of the politics of the Church
of Rome. The last priest in our country who theologically kept a woman
in his parsonage, regaling her with his scholastic love, was a certain
vicar of Azay-le-Ridel, a place later on most aptly named as
Azay-le-Brule, and now Azay-le-Rideau, whose castle is one of the
marvels of Touraine. Now this said period, when the women were not
averse to the odour of the priesthood, is not so far distant as some
may think, Monsieur D'Orgemont, son of the preceding bishop, still
held the see of Paris, and the great quarrels of the Armagnacs had not
finished. To tell the truth, this vicar did well to have his vicarage
Droll Stories, V. 1 |
