| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Land that Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs: and determine our position. The sky had been overcast all the
previous day and all night; but as I stepped into the centrale
that morning I was delighted to see that the sun was again shining.
The spirits of the men seemed improved; everything seemed propitious.
I forgot at once the cruel misgivings of the past night as I set
to work to take my observations.
What a blow awaited me! The sextant and chronometer had both
been broken beyond repair, and they had been broken just this
very night. They had been broken upon the night that Lys had been
seen talking with von Schoenvorts. I think that it was this last
thought which hurt me the worst. I could look the other disaster
The Land that Time Forgot |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Prufrock/Other Observations by T. S. Eliot: "He has pointed ears ... he must be unbalanced,"--
"There was something he said that I might have challenged."
Of dowager Mrs. Phlaccus, and Professor and Mrs. Cheetah
I remember a slice of lemon and a bitten macaroon.
Hysteria
As she laughed I was aware of becoming involved in her laughter and
being part of it, until her teeth were only accidental stars with a
talent for squad-drill. I was drawn in by short gasps, inhaled at
each momentary recovery, lost finally in the dark caverns of her
throat, bruised by the ripple of unseen muscles. An elderly waiter
with trembling hands was hurriedly spreading a pink and white checked
Prufrock/Other Observations |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Koran: beneath your feet, and to confuse you in sects, and to make some of
you taste the violence of others.'
See how we turn about the signs, that haply they may discriminate.
Thy people called it a lie, and yet it is the truth. Say, 'I have
not charge over you; to every prophecy is a set time, and in the end
ye shall know.'
When thou dost see those who plunge deeply into the discussion of
our signs, turn from them until they plunge deeply into some other
discourse; for it may be that Satan may make thee forget; but sit not,
after thou hast remembered, with the unjust people.
Those who fear are not bound to take account of them at all, but
The Koran |
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 Laches by Plato: fights flying, instead of remaining?
LACHES: How flying?
SOCRATES: Why, as the Scythians are said to fight, flying as well as
pursuing; and as Homer says in praise of the horses of Aeneas, that they
knew 'how to pursue, and fly quickly hither and thither'; and he passes an
encomium on Aeneas himself, as having a knowledge of fear or flight, and
calls him 'an author of fear or flight.'
LACHES: Yes, Socrates, and there Homer is right: for he was speaking of
chariots, as you were speaking of the Scythian cavalry, who have that way
of fighting; but the heavy-armed Greek fights, as I say, remaining in his
rank.
|
