| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Koran: upon the resurrection day, the torment of burning.
That is for what thy hands have done before, and for that God is not
unjust unto His servants.
'And amongst men is one who serves God (wavering) on a brink; and if
there befall him good, he is comforted; but if there befall him a
trial, he turns round again, and loses this world and the next-that is
an obvious loss. He calls, besides God, on what can neither harm him
nor profit him;-that is a wide error.
He calls on him whose harm is nigher than his profit,-a bad lord and
a bad comrade.
Verily, God makes those who believe and do aright enter into gardens
The Koran |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar by Edgar Rice Burroughs: you too shall die!" Raising his bludgeon he rushed upon
the High Priestess; but Tarzan was there before her.
Leaping in to close quarters the ape-man seized the
upraised weapon and wrenched it from the hands of the
frenzied fanatic and then the priest closed upon him
with tooth and nail. Seizing the stocky, stunted body
in his mighty hands Tarzan raised the creature high
above his head, hurling him at his fellows who were now
gathered ready to bear down upon their erstwhile
captive. La stood proudly with ready knife behind the
ape-man. No faint sign of fear marked her perfect
Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf: on speaking still more monotonously, and more rhythmically and more
nonsensically, how she must shut her eyes and go to sleep and dream of
mountains and valleys and stars falling and parrots and antelopes and
gardens, and everything lovely, she said, raising her head very slowly
and speaking more and more mechanically, until she sat upright and saw
that Cam was asleep.
Now, she whispered, crossing over to his bed, James must go to sleep
too, for see, she said, the boar's skull was still there; they had not
touched it; quite unhurt. He made sure that the skull was still there
under the shawl. But he wanted to ask her something more. Would they
go to the Lighthouse tomorrow?
To the Lighthouse |
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 Cousin Betty by Honore de Balzac: be Marshal of France! And--she has a marriage portion.
"It is true," said the impassioned artist. "I must seem very
ambitious. But if my dear Hortense were a laborer's daughter, I would
marry her----"
"That is just what I wanted to know," replied the Baron. "Run away,
Hortense, and leave me to talk business with Monsieur le Comte.--He
really loves you, you see!"
"Oh, papa, I was sure you were only in jest," said the happy girl.
"My dear Steinbock," said the Baron, with elaborate grace of diction
and the most perfect manners, as soon as he and the artist were alone,
"I promised my son a fortune of two hundred thousand francs, of which
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