| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from When a Man Marries by Mary Roberts Rinehart: amusement."
"Oh, no," I protested. "I--I want to tell you--"
But he deliberately left me and went over to the door. There he
turned and looked down at Aunt Selina. He was a little white, but
there was no passion in his face.
"Thank you for telling me all this, Miss Caruthers," he said
easily. "Now that you and I know, I'm afraid the others will miss
their little diversion. Good night."
Oh, it was all right for Jim to laugh and say that he was only
huffed a little and would be over it by morning. I knew better.
There was something queer in his face as he went out. He did not
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Herbert West: Reanimator by H. P. Lovecraft: to relate, we were both sickeningly sure that articulate sounds
had come from the detached head as it lay in a shadowy corner
of the laboratory. The shell had been merciful, in a way -- but
West could never feel as certain as he wished, that we two were
the only survivors. He used to make shuddering conjectures about
the possible actions of a headless physician with the power of
reanimating the dead.
West’s last quarters were in a venerable
house of much elegance, overlooking one of the oldest burying-grounds
in Boston. He had chosen the place for purely symbolic and fantastically
aesthetic reasons, since most of the interments were of the colonial
Herbert West: Reanimator |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Spirit of the Border by Zane Grey: leaves. Yet he felt the warm, soft pressure of a little hand. Surely this
slender, graceful figure was real.
She bade him enter a lodge of imposing proportions. Still silent, in amazement
and gratitude, he obeyed.
The maiden turned to Joe. Though traces of pride still lingered, all her fire
had vanished. Her bosom rose with each quick-panting breath; her lips
quivered, she trembled like a trapped doe.
But at last the fluttering lashes rose. Joe saw two velvety eyes dark with
timid fear, yet veiling in their lustrous depths an unuttered hope and love.
"Whispering Winds--save--paleface," she said, in a voice low and tremulous.
"Fear--father. Fear--tell--Wingenund--she--Christian."
The Spirit of the Border |
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 Village Rector by Honore de Balzac: lessen his constant admiration and worship of the beautiful Madame
Graslin,--such was the term by which she was designated in 1829.
The most clear-sighted among those who surrounded her attributed the
change which rendered Veronique increasingly charming to her friends
to the secret delight which all women, even the most religious, feel
when they see themselves courted; and to the satisfaction of living at
last in a circle congenial to her mind, where the pleasure of
exchanging ideas and the happiness of being surrounded by intelligent
and well-informed men and true friends, whose attachment deepened day
by day, had dispersed forever the weary dulness of her life.
Perhaps, however, closer, more perceptive or sceptical observers were
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