| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Water-Babies by Charles Kingsley: London-pride which covers the Kerry mountains, and the little pink
butterwort of Devon, and the great blue butterwort of Ireland, and
the Connemara heath, and the bristle-fern of the Turk waterfall,
and many a strange plant more; all fairy tokens left for wise men
and good children from off St. Brandan's Isle.
Now when Tom got there, he found that the isle stood all on
pillars, and that its roots were full of caves. There were pillars
of black basalt, like Staffa; and pillars of green and crimson
serpentine, like Kynance; and pillars ribboned with red and white
and yellow sandstone, like Livermead; and there were blue grottoes
like Capri, and white grottoes like Adelsberg; all curtained and
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from King James Bible: that ye are come so soon to day?
EXO 2:19 And they said, An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the
shepherds, and also drew water enough for us, and watered the flock.
EXO 2:20 And he said unto his daughters, And where is he? why is it
that ye have left the man? call him, that he may eat bread.
EXO 2:21 And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses
Zipporah his daughter.
EXO 2:22 And she bare him a son, and he called his name Gershom: for he
said, I have been a stranger in a strange land.
EXO 2:23 And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt
died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and
King James Bible |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Kenilworth by Walter Scott: of precision sits so well upon her!"
"Is she indeed?" said the Earl. "She who gives you pleasure
must not pass unrewarded.--Come hither, damsel."
"Janet," said the lady, "come hither to my lord."
Janet, who, as we already noticed, had discreetly retired to some
distance, that her presence might be no check upon the private
conversation of her lord and lady, now came forward; and as she
made her reverential curtsy, the Earl could not help smiling at
the contrast which the extreme simplicity of her dress, and the
prim demureness of her looks, made with a very pretty countenance
and a pair of black eyes, that laughed in spite of their
Kenilworth |
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 Herbert West: Reanimator by H. P. Lovecraft: was rather ironic, for he was the officer who had helped West
to his commission, and who was now to have been our associate.
Moreover, he had in the past secretly studied the theory of reanimation
to some extent under West. Major Sir Eric Moreland Clapham-Lee,
D.S.O., was the greatest surgeon in our division, and had been
hastily assigned to the St. Eloi sector when news of the heavy
fighting reached headquarters. He had come in an aeroplane piloted
by the intrepid Lieut. Ronald Hill, only to be shot down when
directly over his destination. The fall had been spectacular and
awful; Hill was unrecognisable afterward, but the wreck yielded
up the great surgeon in a nearly decapitated but otherwise intact
Herbert West: Reanimator |
