| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Youth by Joseph Conrad: by magic, into matchwood where she stood in her gripes.
I had lashed her myself, and was rather proud of my
handiwork, which had withstood so long the malice of
the sea. And we pumped. And there was no break in
the weather. The sea was white like a sheet of foam,
like a caldron of boiling milk; there was not a break in
the clouds, no--not the size of a man's hand--no, not
for so much as ten seconds. There was for us no sky,
there were for us no stars, no sun, no universe--nothing
but angry clouds and an infuriated sea. We pumped
watch and watch, for dear life; and it seemed to last for
Youth |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Lost Continent by Edgar Rice Burroughs: me. Do you not dare come with me?"
"I dare follow wherever you lead," she answered simply.
And so I turned and passed beneath the great arch into the
city of London.
5
As we entered deeper into what had once been the city, the
evidences of man's past occupancy became more frequent. For
a mile from the arch there was only a riot of weeds and
undergrowth and trees covering small mounds and little
hillocks that, I was sure, were formed of the ruins of
stately buildings of the dead past.
Lost Continent |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Miracle Mongers and Their Methods by Harry Houdini: in the shipyards at Newport News, Virginia.
Another ``Samson,'' a German, among other
sensational feats, such as breaking coins with
his fingers, used to flex his muscles and break
a dog-chain that had been fastened round the
biceps of his right arm. While he was
performing at the Aquarium, in London, he issued
a challenge. Sandow, then a youth without
reputation, accepted the challenge, went upon
the stage, defeated him, and, since Samson's
act had been the talk of the town, thus brought
Miracle Mongers and Their Methods |
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 Mosses From An Old Manse by Nathaniel Hawthorne: upon leaf and blossom, and, while giving a brighter beauty to
each rare flower, brought everything within the limits of
ordinary experience. The young man rejoiced that, in the heart of
the barren city, he had the privilege of overlooking this spot of
lovely and luxuriant vegetation. It would serve, he said to
himself, as a symbolic language to keep him in communion with
Nature. Neither the sickly and thoughtworn Dr. Giacomo
Rappaccini, it is true, nor his brilliant daughter, were now
visible; so that Giovanni could not determine how much of the
singularity which he attributed to both was due to their own
qualities and how much to his wonder-working fancy; but he was
Mosses From An Old Manse |
