| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Dynamiter by Robert Louis Stevenson and Fanny Van De Grift Stevenson: man's ears.
Challoner's position was too unusual to be long welcome to
his mind. He found himself projected the whole length of
England, on a mission beset with obscure and ridiculous
circumstances, and yet, by the trust he had accepted,
irrevocably bound to persevere. How easy it appeared, in the
retrospect, to have refused the whole proposal, returned the
money, and gone forth again upon his own affairs, a free and
happy man! And it was now impossible: the enchantress who
had held him with her eye had now disappeared, taking his
honour in pledge; and as she had failed to leave him an
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Plutarch's Lives by A. H. Clough: Tilphossium, was the first of those who thought it not advisable to
put things to the decision of the sword, but rather to wear out the
war by expense of time and treasure. The ground, however, near
Orchomenus, where they then lay encamped, gave some encouragement to
Archelaus, being a battle field admirably suited for an army superior
in cavalry. Of all the plains in Boeotia that are renowned for their
beauty and extent, this alone, which commences from the city of
Orchomenus, spreads out unbroken and clear of trees to the edge of
the fens in which the Melas, rising close under Orchomenus, loses
itself, the only Greek river which is a deep and navigable water from
the very head, increasing also about the summer solstice like 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 Dawn O'Hara, The Girl Who Laughed by Edna Ferber: or put in cut glass fixtures and handpainted china, Hugo
Luders would serve an injunction on 'em. Next!"
"Who's the woman with the leathery complexion and the
belt to match, and the untidy hair and the big feet? I
like her face. And why does she sit at a table with all
those strange-looking men? And who are all the men? And
who is the fur-lined grand opera tenor just coming in--
Oh!"
Blackie glanced over his shoulder just as the tall
man in the doorway turned his face toward us. "That?
Why, girl, that's Von Gerhard, the man who gives me one
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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 Out of Time's Abyss by Edgar Rice Burroughs: Many of the latter were mounted in precious metals and set with
colored stones and priceless gems, while thick upon the hides
that covered the walls were golden ornaments similar to those
worn by the girl and those which had filled the chests he had
examined in the storeroom of Fosh-bal-soj, leading the Englishman
to the conviction that all such were spoils of war or theft,
since each piece seemed made for personal adornment, while in so
far as he had seen, no Wieroo wore ornaments of any sort.
And also as they advanced the more numerous became the Wieroos
moving hither and thither within the temple. Many now were the
solid red robes and those that were slashed with blue--a
Out of Time's Abyss |
