| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Malbone: An Oldport Romance by Thomas Wentworth Higginson: clasped her in; but this time the trance was longer and the
faintness was unto death.
From the moment of her drifting ashore, it was the young
boatman who had assumed the right to care for her and to direct
everything. Philip seemed stunned; Harry was his usual
clear-headed and efficient self; but to his honest eyes much
revealed itself in a little while; and when Hope arrived in the
early morning, he said to her, "This boatman, who once saved
your life, is Emilia's Swiss lover, Antoine Marval."
"More than lover," said the young Swiss, overhearing. "She was
my wife before God, when you took her from me. In my country,
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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 Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu by Sax Rohmer: Even as he is, I fear him."
Her voice, her palpable agitation, prepared us for something extraordinary.
Tragedy and Fu-Manchu were never far apart. Though we were two, and help
was so near, we were in the abode of the most cunning murderer who ever came
out of the East.
It was with strangely mingled emotions that I crossed the thick carpet,
Nayland Smith beside me, and drew aside the draperies concealing a door,
to which Karamaneh had pointed. Then, upon looking into the dim place beyond,
all else save what it held was forgotten.
We looked upon a small, square room, the walls draped with fantastic
Chinese tapestry, the floor strewn with cushions; and reclining
The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Symposium by Plato: one side only, like a flat fish, is but the indenture of a man, and he is
always looking for his other half. Men who are a section of that double
nature which was once called Androgynous are lovers of women; adulterers
are generally of this breed, and also adulterous women who lust after men:
the women who are a section of the woman do not care for men, but have
female attachments; the female companions are of this sort. But they who
are a section of the male follow the male, and while they are young, being
slices of the original man, they hang about men and embrace them, and they
are themselves the best of boys and youths, because they have the most
manly nature. Some indeed assert that they are shameless, but this is not
true; for they do not act thus from any want of shame, but because they are
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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 Summer by Edith Wharton: middle-aged man with a baldness showing under his
clerical hat, and spectacles on his Grecian nose. She
wondered what had called him to North Dormer on a
weekday, and felt a little hurt that Harney should have
brought him to the library.
It presently appeared that his presence there was due
to Miss Hatchard. He had been spending a few days
at Springfield, to fill a friend's pulpit, and had been
consulted by Miss Hatchard as to young Harney's plan
for ventilating the "Memorial." To lay hands on the
Hatchard ark was a grave matter, and Miss Hatchard,
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