| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Gods of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: waved aloft by some fair slave, its shimmering blade crimson
with the lifeblood of its owner; swords plucked from the
bodies of the dead about them; heavy ornaments which
could be turned into bludgeons--such were the implements
with which these fair women wreaked the long-pent vengeance
which at best could but partially recompense them for the
unspeakable cruelties and indignities which their black masters
had heaped upon them. And those who could find no other weapons
used their strong fingers and their gleaming teeth.
It was at once a sight to make one shudder and to cheer;
but in a brief second we were engaged once more in our
The Gods of Mars |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tono Bungay by H. G. Wells: months at that station stayed to die, eaten up mysteriously like
a leper with its dismantled sheds and its decaying pier of
wormrotten and oblique piles and planks, still insecurely
possible.
And in the midst, two clumsy heaps shaped like the backs of hogs,
one small, one great, sticking out under a rib of rock that cuts
the space across,--quap!
"There it is," said Gordon-Nasmyth, "worth three pounds an
ounce, if it's worth a penny; two great heaps of it, rotten stuff
and soft, ready to shovel and wheel, and you may get it by the
ton!"
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Poems by Bronte Sisters: Hope, which, on earth, shines never clear,
And oft in clouds is wholly lost.
"Will he hope's source of light behold,
Fruition's spring, where doubts expire,
And drink, in waves of living gold,
Contentment, full, for long desire?
"Will he find bliss, which here he dreamed?
Rest, which was weariness on earth?
Knowledge, which, if o'er life it beamed,
Served but to prove it void of worth?
"Will he find love without lust's leaven,
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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 Little Women by Louisa May Alcott: own, not even tears, for when most deeply moved, Jo did not
cry. She was the weaker then, land Beth tried to comfort and
sustain her, with her arms about her and the soothing words
she whispered in her ear.
"I've known it for a good while, dear, and now I'm used
to it, it isn't hard to think of or to bear. Try to see it so
and don't be troubled about me, because it's best, indeed it is."
"Is this what made you so unhappy in the autumn, Beth? You
did not feel it then, land keep it to yourself so long, did you?"
asked Jo, refusing to see or say that it was best, but glad to
know that Laurie had no part in Beth's trouble.
Little Women |
