| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from At the Earth's Core by Edgar Rice Burroughs: the first with an illusive suggestion of the bizarre
and unnatural--THERE WAS NO HORIZON! As far as the eye
could reach out the sea continued and upon its bosom
floated tiny islands, those in the distance reduced
to mere specks; but ever beyond them was the sea,
until the impression became quite real that one was
LOOKING UP at the most distant point that the eyes
could fathom--the distance was lost in the distance.
That was all--there was no clear-cut horizontal
line marking the dip of the globe below the line of vision.
"A great light is commencing to break on me," continued Perry,
At the Earth's Core |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne: he had not been able to avoid.
Ah! how my heart beat with emotion and horror!
The formidable beak of a cuttlefish was open over Ned Land.
The unhappy man would be cut in two. I rushed to his succour.
But Captain Nemo was before me; his axe disappeared between
the two enormous jaws, and, miraculously saved, the Canadian,
rising, plunged his harpoon deep into the triple heart
of the poulp.
"I owed myself this revenge!" said the Captain to the Canadian.
Ned bowed without replying. The combat had lasted a quarter of an hour.
The monsters, vanquished and mutilated, left us at last, and disappeared
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Country of the Pointed Firs by Sarah Orne Jewett: lively port, and not takin' in any mixed cargoes," said Mrs. Todd.
"I never desired to go a whalin' v'y'ge myself."
"I used to return feelin' very slack an' behind the times,
'tis true," explained Mrs. Fosdick, "but 'twas excitin', an' we
always done extra well, and felt rich when we did get ashore. I
liked the variety. There, how times have changed; how few
seafarin' families there are left! What a lot o' queer folks there
used to be about here, anyway, when we was young, Almiry.
Everybody's just like everybody else, now; nobody to laugh about,
and nobody to cry about."
It seemed to me that there were peculiarities of character in
|
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 The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy: He remembered it perfectly, and remarked, "You were a proud miss
then, and as dainty as you were high. Perhaps you are now?"
Grace slowly shook her head. "Affliction has taken all that out
of me," she answered, impressively. "Perhaps I am too far the
other way now." As there was something lurking in this that she
could not explain, she added, so quickly as not to allow him time
to think of it, "Has my father written to you at all?"
"Yes," said Winterborne.
She glanced ponderingly up at him. "Not about me?"
"Yes."
His mouth was lined with charactery which told her that he had
The Woodlanders |
