| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Of The Nature of Things by Lucretius: First, foods must be; and, next, a path whereby
The seeds of impregnation in the frame
May ooze, released from the members all;
Last, the possession of those instruments
Whereby the male with female can unite,
The one with other in mutual ravishments.
And in the ages after monsters died,
Perforce there perished many a stock, unable
By propagation to forge a progeny.
For whatsoever creatures thou beholdest
Breathing the breath of life, the same have been
Of The Nature of Things |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Monster Men by Edgar Rice Burroughs: taught them the danger of submerging their heads.
They could not swim, but all were large and strong,
so that they were able to push their way rapidly through
the water to the very side of the ship.
Here they found difficulty in reaching the deck,
but in a moment Number Thirteen had solved the problem
by requiring one of the taller of his crew to stand close
in by the ship while the others clambered upon his
shoulders and from there to the Ithaca's deck.
Number Thirteen was the first to pull himself over the
vessel's side, and as he did so he saw some half dozen
The Monster Men |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Finished by H. Rider Haggard: about to answer sharply when Cetewayo himself addressed me.
"Macumazahn," he said, "you are now my enemy, like all your
people, and from sunrise to-morrow morning your safe-conduct here
ends, for if you are found at Ulundi two hours after that time,
it will be lawful for any man to kill you. Yet as you are still
my guest, I will give you an escort to the borders of the land.
Moreover, you shall take a message from me to the Queen's
officers and captains. It is--that I will send an answer to
their demands upon the point of an assegai. Yet add this, that
not I but the English, to whom I have always been a friend,
sought this war. If Sompseu had suffered me to fight the Boers
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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 Letters of Two Brides by Honore de Balzac: round pebbles set in layers, alternately sloping or upright, according
to the artistic taste of the mason, which finds here its only outlet.
The mud in which they are set is falling away in places.
Thanks to an iron railing at the entrance facing the road, this simple
farm has a certain air of being a country-seat. The railing, long
sought with tears, is so emaciated that it recalled Sister Angelique
to me. A flight of stone steps leads to the door, which is protected
by a pent-house roof, such as no peasant on the Loire would tolerate
for his coquettish white stone house, with its blue roof, glittering
in the sun. The garden and surrounding walks are horribly dusty, and
the trees seem burnt up. It is easy to see that for years the Baron's
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