| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Frankenstein by Mary Shelley: beside the beautiful lake near which it stood.
In the meantime I took every precaution to defend my person in case
the fiend should openly attack me. I carried pistols and a dagger
constantly about me and was ever on the watch to prevent artifice,
and by these means gained a greater degree of tranquillity.
Indeed, as the period approached, the threat appeared more as
a delusion, not to be regarded as worthy to disturb my peace, while
the happiness I hoped for in my marriage wore a greater appearance
of certainty as the day fixed for its solemnization drew nearer and
I heard it continually spoken of as an occurrence which no accident
could possibly prevent.
Frankenstein |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Master Key by L. Frank Baum: When he awoke he gave a start of surprise, for beneath him was land.
How long it was since he had left the ocean behind him he could not
guess, but his first thought was to set the indicator of the traveling
machine to zero and to hover over the country until he could determine
where he was.
This was no easy matter. He saw green fields, lakes, groves and
villages; but these might exist in any country. Being still at a
great elevation he descended gradually until he was about twenty feet
from the surface of the earth, where he paused near the edge of a
small village.
At once a crowd of excited people assembled, shouting to one another
The Master Key |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Father Goriot by Honore de Balzac: really the Goriot that he knew. His heart beat unwontedly fast;
he remembered Vautrin's hideous insinuations. A well-dressed
young man suddenly emerged from the room almost as Eugene entered
it, saying impatiently to the servant who stood at the door: "I
am going, Maurice. Tell Madame la Comtesse that I waited more
than half an hour for her."
Whereupon this insolent being, who, doubtless, had a right to be
insolent, sang an Italian trill, and went towards the window
where Eugene was standing, moved thereto quite as much by a
desire to see the student's face as by a wish to look out into
the courtyard.
Father Goriot |
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 Mosses From An Old Manse by Nathaniel Hawthorne: paint the figure-head of the Cynosure! And what sort of a figure
should I cut in a foreign port with such an unpainted oaken stick
as this over my prow! She must, and she shall, be painted to the
life, from the topmost flower in her hat down to the silver
spangles on her slippers."
"Mr. Copley," said Drowne, quietly, "I know nothing of marble
statuary, and nothing of the sculptor's rules of art; but of this
wooden image, this work of my hands, this creature of my
heart,"--and here his voice faltered and choked in a very
singular manner,--"of this--of her --I may say that I know
something. A well-spring of inward wisdom gushed within me as I
Mosses From An Old Manse |
