| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Call of the Wild by Jack London: hundred dollars. In the ebb of their fortunes, this sum was their
total capital; yet they laid it unhesitatingly against
Matthewson's six hundred.
The team of ten dogs was unhitched, and Buck, with his own
harness, was put into the sled. He had caught the contagion of
the excitement, and he felt that in some way he must do a great
thing for John Thornton. Murmurs of admiration at his splendid
appearance went up. He was in perfect condition, without an ounce
of superfluous flesh, and the one hundred and fifty pounds that he
weighed were so many pounds of grit and virility. His furry coat
shone with the sheen of silk. Down the neck and across the
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Philosophy 4 by Owen Wister: the empty bed. Then he went for a moment and watched the still forcibly
sleeping John. He turned his eyes this way and that, and after standing
for a while moved quietly back to his chair and sat down with the
leather wallet of notes on his lap, his knees together, and his
unblocked shoes touching. In due time the clocks of Massachusetts
struck noon.
In a meadow where a brown amber stream ran, lay Bertie and Billy on the
grass. Their summer coats were off, their belts loosened. They watched
with eyes half closed the long water-weeds moving gently as the current
waved and twined them. The black gelding, brought along a farm road and
through a gate, waited at its ease in the field beside a stone wall. Now
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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 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne: Was I to meet in these depths companions and friends of Captain Nemo whom
he was going to visit, and who, like him, led this strange existence?
Should I find down there a whole colony of exiles who, weary of the miseries
of this earth, had sought and found independence in the deep ocean?
All these foolish and unreasonable ideas pursued me. And in this condition
of mind, over-excited by the succession of wonders continually passing before
my eyes, I should not have been surprised to meet at the bottom of the sea one
of those submarine towns of which Captain Nemo dreamed.
Our road grew lighter and lighter. The white glimmer came in rays
from the summit of a mountain about 800 feet high. But what I saw
was simply a reflection, developed by the clearness of the waters.
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea |
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 The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen: cast out a good many lines, though, before I got what I wanted,
and when I landed the fish I did not for a moment suppose it
was my fish. But I listened to what I was told out of a
constitutional liking for useless information, and I found
myself in possession of a very curious story, though, as I
imagined, not the story I was looking for. It was to this
effect. Some five or six years ago, a woman named Raymond
suddenly made her appearance in the neighbourhood to which I am
referring. She was described to me as being quite young,
probably not more than seventeen or eighteen, very handsome,
and looking as if she came from the country. I should be wrong
The Great God Pan |
