| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The People That Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs: as worthy the attention of paleontologists and naturalists--I
came to the conclusion that such creatures as the cave-bear,
the cave-lion and the saber-tooth tiger, as well as the larger
carnivorous reptiles make, ordinarily, two kills a day--one in
the morning and one after night. They immediately devour the
entire carcass, after which they lie up and sleep for a few hours.
Fortunately their numbers are comparatively few; otherwise there
would be no other life within Caspak. It is their very voracity
that keeps their numbers down to a point which permits other
forms of life to persist, for even in the season of love the
great males often turn upon their own mates and devour them,
The People That Time Forgot |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tom Sawyer, Detective by Mark Twain: "It is a pity if Huck is to be talked to that way,
just for making a little bit of a mistake that anybody
could make."
"What mistake has he made?"
"Why, only the mistake of saying blackberries when
of course he meant strawberries."
"Tom Sawyer, I lay if you aggravate me a little more, I'll--"
"Aunt Sally, without knowing it--and of course without
intending it--you are in the wrong. If you'd 'a' studied
natural history the way you ought, you would know that
all over the world except just here in Arkansaw they
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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 A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe: from that we call the heart of the city: that is to say, among the
wealthiest of the people, and such people as were unencumbered with
trades and business. But of the rest, the generality stayed, and seemed
to abide the worst; so that in the place we calf the Liberties, and in the
suburbs, in Southwark, and in the east part, such as Wapping, Ratcliff,
Stepney, Rotherhithe, and the like, the people generally stayed, except
here and there a few wealthy families, who, as above, did not depend
upon their business.
It must not be forgot here that the city and suburbs were
prodigiously full of people at the time of this visitation, I mean at the
time that it began; for though I have lived to see a further increase,
A Journal of the Plague Year |
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 Elizabeth and her German Garden by Marie Annette Beauchamp: No drive is too long or difficult for the horses if I want
to take it, no place impossible to reach if I want to go to it,
no weather or roads too bad to prevent my going out if I wish to:
to all my suggestions he responds with the readiest cheerfulness,
and smoothes away all <208> objections raised by the Man of Wrath,
who rewards his alacrity in doing my pleasure by speaking
of him as an alter Esel. In the summer, on fine evenings,
I love to drive late and alone in the scented forests,
and when I have reached a dark part stop, and sit quite still,
listening to the nightingales repeating their little tune
over and over again after interludes of gurgling, or if there
Elizabeth and her German Garden |
