| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Salammbo by Gustave Flaubert: the beginning of a new existence, and the diffusion of vast happiness:
it was the day of Salammbo's marriage with the King of the Numidians.
On the terrace of the temple of Khamon there were three long tables
laden with gigantic plate, at which the priests, Ancients, and the
rich were to sit, and there was a fourth and higher one for Hamilcar,
Narr' Havas, and Salammbo; for as she had saved her country by the
restoration of the zaimph, the people turned her wedding day into a
national rejoicing, and were waiting in the square below till she
should appear.
But their impatience was excited by another and more acrid longing:
Matho's death has been promised for the ceremony.
Salammbo |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Two Noble Kinsmen by William Shakespeare: ARCITE.
Doe.
KEEPER.
By your leave, Gentlemen--
PALAMON.
Now, honest keeper?
KEEPER.
Lord Arcite, you must presently to'th Duke;
The cause I know not yet.
ARCITE.
I am ready, keeper.
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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 Little Britain by Washington Irving: with old oaken carvings of hideous faces, unknown birds,
beasts, and fishes; and fruits and flowers which it would
perplex a naturalist to classify. There are also, in Aldersgate
Street, certain remains of what were once spacious and lordly
family mansions, but which have in latter days been subdivided
into several tenements. Here may often be found the family of
a petty tradesman, with its trumpery furniture, burrowing
among the relics of antiquated finery, in great, rambling, time-
stained apartments, with fretted ceilings, gilded cornices, and
enormous marble fireplaces. The lanes and courts also contain
many smaller houses, not on so grand a scale, but, like your
|
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 Thuvia, Maid of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: the return of the bowmen, and then for some means of escape.
The wall behind the dais was pierced by two small
doorways, hidden by heavy hangings. Thuvia was running
quickly towards one of these when she heard the clank of
a warrior's metal at the end of the apartment behind her.
Ah, if she had but an instant more of time she could
have reached that screening arras and, perchance,
have found some avenue of escape behind it; but now
it was too late--she had been discovered!
With a feeling that was akin to apathy she turned to
meet her fate, and there, before her, running swiftly
Thuvia, Maid of Mars |
