| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Out of Time's Abyss by Edgar Rice Burroughs: It was a harrowing experience, but soon over, and once again
the captive was being carried swiftly toward the east and what
fate he could not even guess.
It was immediately following his transfer in mid-air that Bradley
made out the shadowy form of a large island far ahead, and not
long after, he realized that this must be the intended
destination of his captors. Nor was he mistaken. Three quarters
of an hour from the time of his seizure his captors dropped
gently to earth in the strangest city that human eye had ever
rested upon. Just a brief glimpse of his immediate surroundings
vouchsafed Bradley before he was whisked into the interior of one
Out of Time's Abyss |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Shakespeare's Sonnets by William Shakespeare: Why is my verse so barren of new pride,
So far from variation or quick change?
Why with the time do I not glance aside
To new-found methods, and to compounds strange?
Why write I still all one, ever the same,
And keep invention in a noted weed,
That every word doth almost tell my name,
Showing their birth, and where they did proceed?
O! know sweet love I always write of you,
And you and love are still my argument;
So all my best is dressing old words new,
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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 Patchwork Girl of Oz by L. Frank Baum: calling upon his wife to forgive him, to speak
to him, to come to life again!
The Patchwork Girl, quickly recovering from her
fright, now came nearer and looked from one to
another of the people with deep interest. Then she
looked at herself and laughed. Noticing the
mirror, she stood before it and examined her
extraordinary features with amazement--her button
eyes, pearl bead teeth and puffy nose. Then,
addressing her reflection in the glass, she exclaimed:
"Whee, but there's a gaudy dame!
The Patchwork Girl of Oz |
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 Records of a Family of Engineers by Robert Louis Stevenson: from the beacon or building at high-water, while the landing-
master's crew were generally engaged with the craft at a
distance, it must have rendered the accident doubly painful to
those on the rock, who at this time had no boat, and
consequently no means of rendering immediate and prompt
assistance. In such cases it would have been too late to have
got a boat by signal from the tender. A small boat, which
could be lowered at pleasure, was therefore suspended by a
pair of davits projected from the cook-house, the keel being
about thirty feet from the rock. This boat, with its tackle
was put under the charge of James Glen, of whose exertions on
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