| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe: fine ermines, and such other furs as are very rich in that city, in
exchange for some of the goods I had brought from China; in
particular for the cloves and nutmegs, of which I sold the greatest
part here, and the rest afterwards at Archangel, for a much better
price than I could have got at London; and my partner, who was
sensible of the profit, and whose business, more particularly than
mine, was merchandise, was mightily pleased with our stay, on
account of the traffic we made here.
It was the beginning of June when I left this remote place. We
were now reduced to a very small caravan, having only thirty-two
horses and camels in all, which passed for mine, though my new
Robinson Crusoe |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Bureaucracy by Honore de Balzac: ministry, and dishonored--"
The light of her pure honor flashed from Celestine's eyes; she sprang
up like a startled horse and cast a fulminating glance at Rabourdin.
"I! I!" she said, on two sublime tones. "Am I a base wife? If I were,
you would have been appointed. But," she added mournfully, "it is
easier to believe that than to believe what is the truth."
"Then what is it?" said Rabourdin.
"All in three words," she said; "I owe thirty thousand francs."
Rabourdin caught his wife to his heart with a gesture of almost
frantic joy, and seated her on his knee.
"Take comfort, dear," he said, in a tone of voice so adorably kind
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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 The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath by H. P. Lovecraft: It was a stupendous sight while the torches lasted, and Carter
had never before seen so many cats. Black, grey, and white; yellow,
tiger, and mixed; common, Persian, and Marix; Thibetan, Angora,
and Egyptian; all were there in the fury of battle, and there
hovered over them some trace of that profound and inviolate sanctity
which made their goddess great in the temples of Bubastis. They
would leap seven strong at the throat of an almost-human or the
pink tentacled snout of a toad-thing and drag it down savagely
to the fungous plain, where myriads of their fellows would surge
over it and into it with the frenzied claws and teeth of a divine
battle-fury. Carter had seized a torch from a stricken slave,
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath |
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 Turn of the Screw by Henry James: I paused to give her breath. I sustained her with a grateful arm,
assuring her that she might hugely help me; and this started
us afresh, so that in the course of but few minutes more we reached
a point from which we found the boat to be where I had supposed it.
It had been intentionally left as much as possible out of sight
and was tied to one of the stakes of a fence that came, just there,
down to the brink and that had been an assistance to disembarking.
I recognized, as I looked at the pair of short, thick oars,
quite safely drawn up, the prodigious character of the feat
for a little girl; but I had lived, by this time, too long
among wonders and had panted to too many livelier measures.
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