| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Flower Fables by Louisa May Alcott: Little Annie looked, searched, and asked them all if any one
could tell her of the Fairy whom she sought; but the birds looked
wonderingly at her with their soft, bright eyes, and still sang on;
the flowers nodded wisely on their stems, but did not speak,
while butterfly and bee buzzed and fluttered away, one far too busy,
the other too idle, to stay and tell her what she asked.
Then she went through broad fields of yellow grain, that waved
around her like a golden forest; here crickets chirped, grasshoppers
leaped, and busy ants worked, but they could not tell her what
she longed to know.
"Now will I go among the hills," said Annie, "she may be there."
Flower Fables |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Dunwich Horror by H. P. Lovecraft: a car, but now the car stood empty near the ruins in the Frye
yard. The natives, all of whom had talked with the policemen,
seemed at first as perplexed as Armitage and his companions. Then
old Sam Hutchins thought of something and turned pale, nudging
Fred Farr and pointing to the dank, deep hollow that yawned close
by.
'Gawd,' he gasped, 'I telled 'em not ter go daown into the
glen, an' I never thought nobody'd dew it with them tracks an'
that smell an' the whippoorwills a-screechin' daown thar in the
dark o' noonday...'
A cold shudder ran through natives and visitors
The Dunwich Horror |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Travels of Sir John Mandeville by Sir John Mandeville: little thereof upon him, it healeth him of the falling evil, and
his horse shall not be a-foundered: and many other virtues it
hath; wherefore men hold it full precious.
From Hebron men go to Bethlehem in half a day, for it is but five
mile; and it is full fair way, by plains and woods full delectable.
Bethlehem is a little city, long and narrow and well walled, and in
each side enclosed with good ditches: and it was wont to be clept
Ephrata, as holy writ saith, ECCE, AUDIVIMUS EUM IN EPHRATA, that
is to say, 'Lo, we heard him in Ephrata.' And toward the east end
of the city is a full fair church and a gracious, and it hath many
towers, pinacles and corners, full strong and curiously made; and
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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 The Recruit by Honore de Balzac: (without knowing whether she were happy or unhappy), they proceeded to
search for the reasons of this sudden retreat.
"If she were ill," said the first Inquisitive, "she would have sent
for the doctor; but the doctor has been all day long playing chess
with me. He told me, laughing, that in these days there was but one
malady, and that was incurable."
This joke was cautiously uttered. Men, women, old men, and young
girls, all set to work to explore the vast field of conjecture. The
next day, conjectures became suspicions. As life is all aboveboard in
a little town, the women were the first to learn that Brigitte had
made larger purchases than usual in the market. This fact could not be
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