| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Chita: A Memory of Last Island by Lafcadio Hearn: These pains in the head and back were becoming unbearable.
Nothing but rest could avail him now.
He stretched himself under the mosquito curtain. It was very
still, breath. less, hot! The venomous insects were
thick;---they filled the room with a continuous ebullient sound,
as if invisible kettles were boiling overhead. A sign of
storm.... Still, it was strange!---he could not perspire ...
Then it seemed to him that Laroussel was bending over
him---Laroussel in his cavalry uniform. "Bon jour,
camarade!---nous allons avoir un bien mauvais temps, mon pauvre
Julien." How! bad weather?---"Comment un mauvais temps?" ...
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Call of Cthulhu by H. P. Lovecraft: or February 28th according to the International Date Line - the
earthquake and storm had come. From Dunedin the Alert and her
noisome crew had darted eagerly forth as if imperiously summoned,
and on the other side of the earth poets and artists had begun
to dream of a strange, dank Cyclopean city whilst a young sculptor
had moulded in his sleep the form of the dreaded Cthulhu. March
23rd the crew of the Emma landed on an unknown island and left
six men dead; and on that date the dreams of sensitive men assumed
a heightened vividness and darkened with dread of a giant monster's
malign pursuit, whilst an architect had gone mad and a sculptor
had lapsed suddenly into delirium! And what of this storm of April
Call of Cthulhu |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Aeneid by Virgil: Had won, or left at least a dubious race.
Now, spent, the goal they almost reach at last,
When eager Nisus, hapless in his haste,
Slipp'd first, and, slipping, fell upon the plain,
Soak'd with the blood of oxen newly slain.
The careless victor had not mark'd his way;
But, treading where the treach'rous puddle lay,
His heels flew up; and on the grassy floor
He fell, besmear'd with filth and holy gore.
Not mindless then, Euryalus, of thee,
Nor of the sacred bonds of amity,
Aeneid |
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 Westward Ho! by Charles Kingsley: knew enough of the world to guess what had happened, and they both
hurried home in silence.
And so Eustace Leigh played his move, and lost it.
Poor little Rose, having run nearly to Chapel, stopped for very
shame, and walked quietly by the cottages which stood opposite the
gate, and then turned up the lane towards Moorwinstow village,
whither she was bound. But on second thoughts, she felt herself so
"red and flustered," that she was afraid of going into the village,
for fear (as she said to herself) of making people talk, and so,
turning into a by-path, struck away toward the cliffs, to cool her
blushes in the sea-breeze. And there finding a quiet grassy nook
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