| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Love Songs by Sara Teasdale: Of words unuttered that breathed and stirred.
Oh, love that lives its life with laughter
Or love that lives its life with tears
Can die -- but love that is never spoken
Goes like a ghost through the winding years. . . .
I went back to the clanging city,
I went back where my old loves stayed,
My heart was full of my new love's glory, --
But my eyes were suddenly afraid.
Summer Night, Riverside
In the wild, soft summer darkness
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson by Robert Louis Stevenson: long, with no anticipation it will bring them back to us. We are
both sadly mortified you are not coming, but health comes first;
alas, that man should be so crazy. What fun we could have, if we
were all well, what work we could do, what a happy place we could
make it for each other! If I were able to do what I want; but then
I am not, and may leave that vein.
No. I do not think I shall require to know the Gaelic; few things
are written in that language, or ever were; if you come to that,
the number of those who could write, or even read it, through
almost all my period, must, by all accounts, have been incredibly
small. Of course, until the book is done, I must live as much as
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Light of Western Stars by Zane Grey: felt, was good. She managed to mount her horse and ride up to
the house; but, once there, she weakened and Florence had almost
to carry her in-doors. She fought off a faintness, only to
succumb to it when alone in her room. Still, she did not entirely
lose consciousness, and soon recovered to the extent that she did
not require assistance.
Upon the morning after the end of the round-up, when she went out
on the porch, her brother and Stillwell appeared to be arguing
about the identity of a horse.
"Wal, I reckon it's my old roan," said Stillwell, shading his
eves with his hand.
The Light of Western Stars |
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 Pellucidar by Edgar Rice Burroughs: splints and felt of the injured member. As far as I could
judge the bone was completely knit. The joint was stiff;
when I bent it a little the brute winced--but he neither
growled nor tried to pull away. Very slowly and gently
I rubbed the joint and applied pressure to it for a few
moments.
Then I set it down upon the ground. The hyaenodon
walked around me a few times, and then lay down at
my side, his body touching mine. I laid my hand upon
his head. He did not move. Slowly, I scratched about
his ears and neck and down beneath the fierce jaws.
Pellucidar |
