| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia by Samuel Johnson: favour of the position so often uttered by the mouth of Imlac, that
'Nature sets her gifts on the right hand and on the left.' Those
conditions which flatter hope and attract desire are so constituted
that as we approach one we recede from another. There are goods so
opposed that we cannot seize both, but by too much prudence may
pass between them at too great a distance to reach either. This is
often the fate of long consideration; he does nothing who
endeavours to do more than is allowed to humanity. Flatter not
yourself with contrarieties of pleasure. Of the blessings set
before you make your choice, and be content. No man can taste the
fruits of autumn while he is delighting his scent with the flowers
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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: through the doorway upon the floor of the chamber.
So sudden was the assault and so surprising the strength of the
Wieroo that the Englishman was taken completely off his guard.
When he arose, the door was closed, and Fosh-bal-soj was standing
over him, his hideous face contorted into an expression of rage
and hatred.
"Hyena, snake, lizard!" he screamed. "You would dare lay your
low, vile, profaning hands upon even the lowliest of the Wieroos--
the sacred chosen of Luata!"
Bradley was mad, and so he spoke in a very low, calm voice while
a half-smile played across his lips but his cold, gray eyes
 Out of Time's Abyss |