| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Dunwich Horror by H. P. Lovecraft: old - older by far than any of the communities within thirty miles
of it. South of the village one may still spy the cellar walls
and chimney of the ancient Bishop house, which was built before
1700; whilst the ruins of the mill at the falls, built in 1806,
form the most modern piece of architecture to be seen. Industry
did not flourish here, and the nineteenth-century factory movement
proved short-lived. Oldest of all are the great rings of rough-hewn
stone columns on the hilltops, but these are more generally attributed
to the Indians than to the settlers. Deposits of skulls and bones,
found within these circles and around the sizeable table-like
rock on Sentinel Hill, sustain the popular belief that such spots
The Dunwich Horror |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Woman and Labour by Olive Schreiner: succeed in one of the most exacting and complex of human employments, the
government of nations; that from the days of Amalasontha to Isabella of
Spain, Elizabeth of England, and Catharine of Russia, women have not failed
to grasp the large impersonal aspects of life, and successfully and
powerfully to control them, when placed in the supreme position in which it
was demanded. It may also be stated, and is sometimes, with so much
iteration as to become almost wearisome, that women's adequacy in the
modern fields of intellectual or skilled manual labour is no more today an
open matter for debate, than the number of modern women who, as senior
wranglers, doctors, &c., have already successfully entered the new fields,
and the high standard attained by women in all university examinations to
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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 Oedipus Trilogy by Sophocles: OEDIPUS
Merope, stranger, wife of Polybus.
MESSENGER
And what of her can cause you any fear?
OEDIPUS
A heaven-sent oracle of dread import.
MESSENGER
A mystery, or may a stranger hear it?
OEDIPUS
Aye, 'tis no secret. Loxias once foretold
That I should mate with mine own mother, and shed
Oedipus Trilogy |
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 Mansion by Henry van Dyke: guests,
and their talk across the broad table, glittering with silver and
cut glass, and softly lit by shaded candles, was intimate, though
a little
slow at times. The elder man was in rather a rare mood, more
expansive and
confidential than usual; and, when the coffee was brought in and
they were left alone, he talked more freely of his personal plans
and hopes
than he had ever done before.
"I feel very grateful to-night," said he, at last; "it must be
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