| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Lair of the White Worm by Bram Stoker: turned, the bolts of the great lock moved noiselessly and the iron
doors swung open. On the stone steps outside stood Oolanga, with
the mongoose box slung over his shoulder. Lady Arabella stood a
little on one side, and the African, accepting the movement as an
invitation, entered in an obsequious way. The moment, however, that
he was inside, he gave a quick look around him.
"Much death here--big death. Many deaths. Good, good!"
He sniffed round as if he was enjoying the scent. The matter and
manner of his speech were so revolting that instinctively Adam's
hand wandered to his revolver, and, with his finger on the trigger,
he rested satisfied that he was ready for any emergency.
Lair of the White Worm |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Bickerstaff-Partridge Papers by Jonathan Swift: forced the words, by my explication, into any other sense than
what they will naturally bear. If this be granted, I am sure it
must be also allow'd, that the author (whoever he were) was a
person of extraordinary sagacity; and that astrology brought to
such perfection as this, is by no means an art to be despised,
whatever Mr. Bickerstaff, or other merry gentlemen are pleased to
think. As to the tradition of these lines having been writ in the
original by Merlin, I confess I lay not much weight upon it: But
it is enough to justify their authority, that the book from
whence I have transcrib'd them, was printed 170 years ago, as
appears by the title-page. For the satisfaction of any gentleman,
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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 First Men In The Moon by H. G. Wells: long time, five or six seconds, I should think. I floated through the air
and fell like a feather, knee-deep in a snow-drift in the bottom of a
gully of blue-gray, white-veined rock.
I looked about me. "Cavor!" I cried; but no Cavor was visible.
"Cavor!" I cried louder, and the rocks echoed me.
I turned fiercely to the rocks and clambered to the summit of them.
"Cavor!" I cried. My voice sounded like the voice of a lost lamb.
The sphere, too, was not in sight, and for a moment a horrible feeling of
desolation pinched my heart.
Then I saw him. He was laughing and gesticulating to attract my attention.
He was on a bare patch of rock twenty or thirty yards away. I could not
The First Men In The Moon |
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 Underdogs by Mariano Azuela: walked ahead and knocked at the door of a hut.
"Where's the soldiers' barracks?" he inquired of a man
who came out barefoot, a ragged serape covering his
body.
"Right there, just beyond the Plaza," he answered.
Since nobody knew where the city square was, Venan-
cio made him walk ahead to show the way. Trembling
with fear, the poor devil told them they were doing him
a terrible wrong.
"I'm just a poor day laborer, sir; I've got a wife and a
lot of kids."
The Underdogs |
