| 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: Sometimes there were terraces and higher levels, and wide, cleared
spaces amidst the gardens. The great roads held hints of motion,
but in the earlier visions I could not resolve this impression
into details.
In certain places I beheld enormous dark cylindrical
towers which climbed far above any of the other structures. These
appeared to be of a totally unique nature and shewed signs of
prodigious age and dilapidation. They were built of a bizarre
type of square-cut basalt masonry, and tapered slightly toward
their rounded tops. Nowhere in any of them could the least traces
of windows or other apertures save huge doors be found. I noticed
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 Beasts of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs: a short distance from the island. It seemed that the Wagambi
warriors had ventured too far out in their frail craft,
and when caught by a heavy tide and a high wind from offshore
they had been driven out of sight of land. After paddling
for a whole night, thinking that they were headed for home,
they had seen this land at sunrise, and, still taking it for
the mainland, had hailed it with joy, nor had Mugambi been
aware that it was an island until Tarzan had told him that
this was the fact.
The Wagambi chief was quite dubious as to the sail, for
he had never seen such a contrivance used. His country lay
The Beasts of Tarzan |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Silverado Squatters by Robert Louis Stevenson: long way from the hills to market. He had heard there was a
countryman in Calistoga, and came round to the hotel to see
him. We said a few words to each other; we had not much to
say - should never have seen each other had we stayed at
home, separated alike in space and in society; and then we
shook hands, and he went his way again to his ranche among
the hills, and that was all.
Another Scotchman there was, a resident, who for the more
love of the common country, douce, serious, religious man,
drove me all about the valley, and took as much interest in
me as if I had been his son: more, perhaps; for the son has
|
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 Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne: in disorder; "_pertubata seu inordinata,_" as Euclid has it."
"Very well," thought I, "if you can bring order out of that
confusion, my dear uncle, you are a clever man."
"Let us examine carefully," said he again, taking up the leaf upon
which I had written. "Here is a series of one hundred and thirty-two
letters in apparent disorder. There are words consisting of
consonants only, as _nrrlls;_ others, on the other hand, in which
vowels predominate, as for instance the fifth, _uneeief,_ or the last
but one, _oseibo_. Now this arrangement has evidently not been
premeditated; it has arisen mathematically in obedience to the
unknown law which has ruled in the succession of these letters. It
Journey to the Center of the Earth |
