| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Barlaam and Ioasaph by St. John of Damascus: prepared for them that love him and keep his commandments, full
of all manner of good things; and they that attain thereto shall
live for ever in incorruption, enjoying immortality without
death, where pain and sorrow and sighing are fled away. But the
other place is full of darkness and tribulation and pain,
prepared for the devil and his angels, wherein also shall be cast
they who by evil deeds have deserved it, who have bartered the
incorruptible and eternal for the present world, and have made
themselves fuel for eternal fire.'
"When I heard this voice, and recognized the truth, I did my
diligence to attain to that abode, that is free from all pain and
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Herbert West: Reanimator by H. P. Lovecraft: sleep. The old deserted Chapman house had inexplicably burned
to an amorphous heap of ashes; that we could understand because
of the upset lamp. Also, an attempt had been made to disturb a
new grave in the potter’s field, as if by futile and spadeless
clawing at the earth. That we could not understand, for we had
patted down the mould very carefully.
And for seventeen years
after that West would look frequently over his shoulder, and complain
of fancied footsteps behind him. Now he has disappeared.
II.
The Plague-Daemon
Herbert West: Reanimator |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from La Grenadiere by Honore de Balzac: owners only came over for the day for a picnic, or at the vintage-
time, sending provisions across in the morning, and scarcely ever
spent the night there except during the grape harvest; but the English
settled down on Touraine like a cloud of locusts, and La Grenadiere
must, of course, be completed if it was to find tenants. Luckily,
however, this recent appendage is hidden from sight by the first two
trees of a lime-tree avenue planted in a gully below the vineyards.
There are only two acres of vineyard at most, the ground rising at the
back of the house so steeply that it is no very easy matter to
scramble up among the vines. The slope, covered with green trailing
shoots, ends within about five feet of the house wall in a ditch-like
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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 Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare: But lou'd thee better then thou can'st deuise:
Till thou shalt know the reason of my loue,
And so good Capulet, which name I tender
As dearely as my owne, be satisfied
Mer. O calme, dishonourable, vile submission:
Alla stucatho carries it away.
Tybalt, you Rat-catcher, will you walke?
Tib. What wouldst thou haue with me?
Mer. Good King of Cats, nothing but one of your nine
liues, that I meane to make bold withall, and as you shall
vse me hereafter dry beate the rest of the eight. Will you
Romeo and Juliet |
