| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Polity of Athenians and Lacedaemonians by Xenophon: Furthermore, owing to the possession of property beyond the limits of
Attica,[50] and the exercise of magistracies which take them into
regions beyond the frontier, they and their attendants have insensibly
acquired the art of navigation.[51] A man who is perpetually voyaging
is forced to handle the oar, he and his domestics alike, and to learn
the terms familiar in seamanship. Hence a stock of skilful mariners is
produced, bred upon a wide experience of voyaging and practice. They
have learnt their business, some in piloting a small craft, others a
merchant vessel, whilst others have been drafted off from these for
service on a ship-of-war. So that the majority of them are able to row
the moment they set foot on board a vessel, having been in a state of
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Blue Flower by Henry van Dyke: Winfried's heavy staff thrust mightily against the hammer's
handle as it fell. Sideways it glanced from the old man's grasp,
and the black stone, striking on the altar's edge, split in
twain. A shout of awe and joy rolled along the living circle.
The branches of the oak shivered. The flames leaped higher. As
the shout died away the people saw the lady Irma, with her arms
clasped round her child, and above them, on the altar-stone,
Winfried, his face shining like the face of an angel.
IV
A swift mountain-flood rolling down its channel; a huge rock
tumbling from the hill-side and falling in mid-stream: the
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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 Gods of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: A single bound carried me completely through into the
adjoining room and brought me face to face with the fellow
whose cruel face I had seen before. He was about my own
height and well muscled and in every outward detail moulded
precisely as are Earth men.
At his side hung a long-sword, a short-sword, a dagger, and one
of the destructive radium revolvers that are common upon Mars.
The fact that I was armed only with a long-sword, and so
according to the laws and ethics of battle everywhere upon
Barsoom should only have been met with a similar or lesser weapon,
seemed to have no effect upon the moral sense of my enemy,
The Gods of Mars |
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 Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath by H. P. Lovecraft: the ridge was deeply cleft.
Then came a wide gap in the range,
where the hideous reaches of transmontane Leng were joined to
the cold waste on this side by a low pass trough which the stars
shone wanly. Carter watched this gap with intense care, knowing
that he might see outlined against the sky beyond it the lower
parts of the vast thing that flew undulantly above the pinnacles.
The object had now floated ahead a trifle, and every eye of the
party was fixed on the rift where it would presently appear in
full-length silhouette. Gradually the huge thing above the peaks
neared the gap, slightly slackening its speed as if conscious
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath |
