| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Warlord of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: which I had immediately done, was what was expected of me.
"Then accept from Talu, Prince of Marentina," said the yellow man,
"this token of my gratitude," and reaching beneath one of his
wide sleeves he withdrew a bracelet and placed it upon my arm.
He then went through the same ceremony with Thuvan Dihn.
Next he asked our names, and from what land we hailed.
He seemed quite familiar with the geography of the outerworld,
and when I said I was from Helium he raised his brows.
The Warlord of Mars |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare: In such a gorgeous Pallace
Nur. There's no trust, no faith, no honestie in men,
All periur'd, all forsworne, all naught, all dissemblers,
Ah where's my man? giue me some Aqua-vitae?
These griefes, these woes, these sorrowes make me old:
Shame come to Romeo
Iul. Blister'd be thy tongue
For such a wish, he was not borne to shame:
Vpon his brow shame is asham'd to sit;
For 'tis a throane where Honour may be Crown'd
Sole Monarch of the vniuersall earth:
Romeo and Juliet |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Othello by William Shakespeare: Why this should be. I therefore vouch againe,
That with some Mixtures, powrefull o're the blood,
Or with some Dram, (coniur'd to this effect)
He wrought vpon her.
To vouch this, is no proofe,
Without more wider, and more ouer Test
Then these thin habits, and poore likely-hoods
Of moderne seeming, do prefer against him
Sen. But Othello, speake,
Did you, by indirect, and forced courses
Subdue, and poyson this yong Maides affections?
Othello |
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 Father Goriot by Honore de Balzac: hell seemed to gleam from his eyes. In that flash the real
Vautrin shone forth, revealed at once before them all; they
understood his past, his present, and future, his pitiless
doctrines, his actions, the religion of his own good pleasure,
the majesty with which his cynicism and contempt for mankind
invested him, the physical strength of an organization proof
against all trials. The blood flew to his face, and his eyes
glared like the eyes of a wild cat. He started back with savage
energy and a fierce growl that drew exclamations of alarm from
the lodgers. At that leonine start the police caught at their
pistols under cover of the general clamor. Collin saw the
Father Goriot |
