| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Herbert West: Reanimator by H. P. Lovecraft: some manner, and continue in secret the experiments he could no
longer perform openly. To hear him discussing ways and means was
rather ghastly, for at the college we had never procured anatomical
specimens ourselves. Whenever the morgue proved inadequate, two
local negroes attended to this matter, and they were seldom questioned.
West was then a small, slender, spectacled youth with delicate
features, yellow hair, pale blue eyes, and a soft voice, and it
was uncanny to hear him dwelling on the relative merits of Christchurch
Cemetery and the potter’s field. We finally decided on the potter’s
field, because practically every body in Christchurch was embalmed;
a thing of course ruinous to West’s researches.
Herbert West: Reanimator |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Myths and Myth-Makers by John Fiske: up his life. In this Finnish legend we have one of the
thousand phases of the story of the "Giant who had no Heart in
his Body," but whose heart was concealed, for safe keeping, in
a duck's egg, or in a pigeon, carefully disposed in some
belfry at the world's end a million miles away, or encased in
a wellnigh infinite series of Chinese boxes.[168] Since, in
spite of all these precautions, the poor giant's heart
invariably came to grief, we need not wonder at the Karen
superstition that the soul is in danger when it quits the body
on its excursions, as exemplified in countless Indo-European
stories of the accidental killing of the weird mouse or pigeon
Myths and Myth-Makers |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde: The grass of the forest had been spotted with blood.
Then he wrote a note to Lord Henry, telling him that he was going up to town
to consult his doctor and asking him to entertain his guests in his absence.
As he was putting it into the envelope, a knock came to the door, and his
valet informed him that the head-keeper wished to see him. He frowned and bit
his lip. "Send him in," he muttered, after some moments' hesitation.
As soon as the man entered, Dorian pulled his chequebook out of a drawer
and spread it out before him.
"I suppose you have come about the unfortunate accident
of this morning, Thornton?" he said, taking up a pen.
"Yes, sir," answered the gamekeeper.
The Picture of Dorian Gray |
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 Royalty Restored/London Under Charles II by J. Fitzgerald Molloy: And presently the lady recovering, she and her spouse took their
leave with many expressions of gratitude and respect. Four days
later, the good parson called on Mrs. Edwards, in order to
present her with four pairs of fine new gloves, which she was
pleased to receive. This gracious act paved the way to further
friendship, which at last found its climax in a proposal of
marriage made by the parson on behalf of his nephew, for the hand
of young Mistress Edwards. "You have a pretty gentlewoman for
your daughter," said the clergyman, "and I have a young nephew,
who has two or three hundred pounds a year in land, and is at my
disposal; if your daughter be free, and you approve of it, I will
|
