| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Tapestried Chamber by Walter Scott: all his wonted power; for he started from the rock on which he
sat, and while the garments with which he had been invested fell
from his wasted frame, and showed the ruins of his strength, he
tossed his arms wildly to heaven, and uttered a cry of
indignation, horror, and despair, which, tradition says, was
heard to a preternatural distance, and resembled the cry of a
dying lion more than a human sound.
His friends received him in their arms as he sank utterly
exhausted by the effort, and bore him back to his castle in mute
sorrow; while his daughter at once wept for her brother, and
endeavoured to mitigate and soothe the despair of her father.
|
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 Oakdale Affair by Edgar Rice Burroughs: twenty, dressed in a motley of flowered calico and silk,
with strings of gold and silver coins looped around her
olive neck. Her bare arms were encircled by bracelets--
some cheap and gaudy, others well wrought from gold
and silver. From her ears depended ornaments fash-
ioned from gold coins. Her whole appearance was bar-
baric, her occupation cast a sinister haze about her; and
yet her eyes seemed fashioned for laughter and her lips
for kissing.
The watchers remained motionless as the girl peered
first in one direction and then in another, seeking an ex-
The Oakdale Affair |
