| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Shadow out of Time by H. P. Lovecraft: In
order to meet any eventuality I have prepared this summary of
my background - as already known in a scattered way to others
- and will now tell as briefly as possible what seemed to happen
during my absence from the camp that hideous night.
Nerves on
edge, and whipped into a kind of perverse eagerness by that inexplicable,
dread-mingled, mnemonic urge toward the northeast, I plodded on
beneath the evil, burning moon. Here and there I saw, half shrouded
by sand, those primal Cyclopean blocks left from nameless and
forgotten aeons.
Shadow out of Time |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs: these white men as brothers.
They were evidently no different from the black men--no
more civilized than the apes--no less cruel than Sabor.
For a moment the others stood looking at the little, mean-
faced man and the giant lying dead upon the beach.
Then one of them laughed and slapped the little man upon
the back. There was much more talk and gesticulating, but
less quarreling.
Presently they launched the boat and all jumped into it and
rowed away toward the great ship, where Tarzan could see
other figures moving about upon the deck.
Tarzan of the Apes |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Heritage of the Desert by Zane Grey: made; closer he got, and always with the same steady gait. Silvermane
left his corner and tried another. The old unwearying round brought
Charger and the Navajo close by him. Silvermane pranced out of his
thicket of boughs; he whistled; he wheeled with his shiny hoofs lifting.
In an hour the Indian was edging the outer circle of the corral, with the
stallion pivoting in the centre, ears laid back, eyes shooting sparks,
fight in every line of him. And the circle narrowed inward.
Suddenly the Navajo sent the roan at Silvermane and threw his halter. It
spread out like a lasso, and the loop went over the head of the stallion,
slipped to the knot and held fast, while the rope tightened. Silvermane
leaped up, forehoofs pawing the air, and his long shrill cry was neither
The Heritage of the Desert |
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 The Underground City by Jules Verne: Ford could have afforded to live in the light of day, among trees,
or in any town of the kingdom he chose, but he and his wife and son
preferred remaining in the mine, where they were happy together,
having the same opinions, ideas, and tastes. Yes, they
were quite fond of their cottage, buried fifteen hundred feet
below Scottish soil. Among other advantages, there was no
fear that tax gatherers, or rent collectors would ever come
to trouble its inhabitants.
At this period, Simon Ford, the former overman of the Dochart pit,
bore the weight of sixty-five years well. Tall, robust,
well-built, he would have been regarded as one of the most
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