| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Rape of Lucrece by William Shakespeare: When more is felt than one hath power to tell.
'Go, get me hither paper, ink, and pen--
Yet save that labour, for I have them here.
What should I say?--One of my husband's men
Bid thou be ready, by and by, to bear
A letter to my lord, my love, my dear;
Bid him with speed prepare to carry it;
The cause craves haste, and it will soon be writ.'
Her maid is gone, and she prepares to write,
First hovering o'er the paper with her quill:
Conceit and grief an eager combat fight;
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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 Gods of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: We had proceeded for possibly an hour without serious
interruption, and Thuvia had just whispered to me that we
were approaching our first destination, when on entering a
great chamber we came upon a man, evidently a thern.
He wore in addition to his leathern trappings and jewelled
ornaments a great circlet of gold about his brow in the exact
centre of which was set an immense stone, the exact counterpart
of that which I had seen upon the breast of the little old
man at the atmosphere plant nearly twenty years before.
It is the one priceless jewel of Barsoom. Only two are
known to exist, and these were worn as the insignia of their
The Gods of Mars |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Hunting of the Snark by Lewis Carroll: And he once went a walk, paw-in-paw, with a bear,
"Just to keep up its spirits," he said.
He came as a Baker: but owned, when too late--
And it drove the poor Bellman half-mad--
He could only bake Bridecake--for which, I may state,
No materials were to be had.
The last of the crew needs especial remark,
Though he looked an incredible dunce:
He had just one idea--but, that one being "Snark,"
The good Bellman engaged him at once.
He came as a Butcher: but gravely declared,
The Hunting of the Snark |
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 A Voyage to Abyssinia by Father Lobo: to bleeding or my fear, but I had from that time no return of my
fever.
When I came to Pate, in hopes of meeting with my associate, I found
that he was gone to Mombaza, in hopes of receiving information. He
was sooner undeceived than I, and we met at the place where we
parted in a few days; and soon afterwards left Pate to return to the
Indies, and in nine-and-twenty days arrived at the famous fortress
of Diou. We were told at this place that Alfonso Mendes, patriarch
of Aethiopia, was arrived at Goa from Lisbon. He wrote to us to
desire that we would wait for him at Diou, in order to embark there
for the Red Sea; but being informed by us that no opportunities of
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