| 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: would not scrape or creak - and that my hand could work it properly.
Even as I thought these things I had taken the torch in my mouth
and begun to climb. The projecting locks were poor supports; but,
as I had expected, the opened shelf helped greatly. I used both
the swinging door and the edge of the aperture itself in my ascent,
and managed to avoid any loud creaking.
Balanced on the upper
edge of the door, and leaning far to my right, I could just reach
the lock I sought. My fingers, half numb from climbing, were very
clumsy at first; but I soon saw that they were anatomically adequate.
And the memory-rhythm was strong in them.
Shadow out of Time |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The United States Bill of Rights: or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched,
and the persons or things to be seized.
V
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime,
unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising
in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service
in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for
the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb;
nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself,
nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law;
nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation.
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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 A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe: remember, that they cavilled very much with one another. Some were
for fires, but that they must be made of wood and not coal, and of
particular sorts of wood too, such as fir in particular, or cedar, because
of the strong effluvia of turpentine; others were for coal and not wood,
because of the sulphur and bitumen; and others were for neither one
or other. Upon the whole, the Lord Mayor ordered no more fires, and
especially on this account, namely, that the plague was so fierce that
they saw evidently it defied all means, and rather seemed to increase
than decrease upon any application to check and abate it; and yet this
amazement of the magistrates proceeded rather from want of being
able to apply any means successfully than from any unwillingness
A Journal of the Plague Year |
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 New Arabian Nights by Robert Louis Stevenson: service; and I felt some alarm mingle with my curiosity as I
reflected on the danger of the landing. My old acquaintance, it
was true, was the most eccentric of men; but the present
eccentricity was both disquieting and lugubrious to consider. A
variety of feelings thus led me towards the beach, where I lay flat
on my face in a hollow within six feet of the track that led to the
pavilion. Thence, I should have the satisfaction of recognising
the arrivals, and, if they should prove to be acquaintances,
greeting them as soon as they had landed.
Some time before eleven, while the tide was still dangerously low,
a boat's lantern appeared close in shore; and, my attention being
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