| 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: For that stream of air could argue but one thing - a hidden gulf
of great size beneath the disordered blocks on the surface.
My
first thought was of the sinister blackfellow legends of vast
underground huts among the megaliths where horrors happen and
great winds are born. Then thoughts of my own dreams came back,
and I felt dim pseudo-memories tugging at my mind. What manner
of place lay below me? What primal, inconceivable source of age-old
myth-cycles and haunting nightmares might I be on the brink of
uncovering?
It was only for a moment that I hesitated, for more
Shadow out of Time |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Footnote to History by Robert Louis Stevenson: his prestige, and his enterprising intellect, must have always made
him influential with the consul: at this juncture he was
indispensable. Here was the deed to be done; here the man of
action. "Mr. Weber rested not," says Laupepa. It was "like the
old days of his own consulate," writes Churchward. His messengers
filled the isle; his house was thronged with chiefs and orators; he
sat close over his loom, delightedly weaving the future. There was
one thing requisite to the intrigue, - a native pretender; and the
very man, you would have said, stood waiting: Mataafa, titular of
Atua, descended from both the royal lines, late joint king with
Tamasese, fobbed off with nothing in the time of the Lackawanna
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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 1492 by Mary Johntson: part? The Arabian Alfraganus thinks that Ptolemy's degrees
should be less in size. If that be right, then the earth
is smaller than is thought, and India nearer! I myself
incline to hold with Alfraganus. It may be that less than
two months' sailing, calm and wind, would bring us to
Cipango. Give me the ships and I will do it!''
``You might have had them yesterday.''
To a marked extent he could bring out and make visible
his inner exaltation. Now, tall, strong, white-haired, he
looked a figure of an older world. ``The spheres and all
are set to harmony!'' he said. ``I would have fitness.
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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 Lysis by Plato: in anything that we like while the pot is boiling, rather than to the
Prince of Asia, who is his son?
To us, clearly.
And we shall be allowed to throw in salt by handfuls, whereas the son will
not be allowed to put in as much as he can take up between his fingers?
Of course.
Or suppose again that the son has bad eyes, will he allow him, or will he
not allow him, to touch his own eyes if he thinks that he has no knowledge
of medicine?
He will not allow him.
Whereas, if he supposes us to have a knowledge of medicine, he will allow
Lysis |
