| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The White Moll by Frank L. Packard: shelf. And it had been well utilized! It held a most astounding
collection of things. There was a cashbox, but the cashbox was
apparently wholly inadequate - there must have been thousands of
dollars in those piles of banknotes that were stacked beside it!
There was a large tin box, the cover off, containing some black,
pastelike substance - the "stuff," presumably, that Gypsy Nan used
on her face and hands. There was a bunch of curiously formed keys,
several boxes of revolver cartridges, an electric flashlight, and
a great quantity of the choicest brands of tinned and bottled
fruits and provisions - and a little to one side, evidently kept
ready for instant use, a suit of excellent material, underclothing,
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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 Son of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs: for many warriors; but he could not, unaided, overcome an
entire tribe--not even for his beloved Meriem. While he waited
among the branches and foliage of a near-by tree he searched
the village constantly with his keen eyes, and twice he circled
it, sniffing the vagrant breezes which puffed erratically from first
one point of the compass and then another. Among the various
stenches peculiar to a native village the ape-man's sensitive
nostrils were finally rewarded by cognizance of the delicate aroma
which marked the presence of her he sought. Meriem was there--
in one of those huts! But which one he could not know without
closer investigation, and so he waited, with the dogged patience
The Son of Tarzan |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Oscar Wilde Miscellaneous by Oscar Wilde: And look upon your vineyards with fierce eyes
As Ahab looked on Naboth's goodly field.
But that is but the chatter of a town
Where women talk too much.
Good-night, my lord.
Fetch a pine torch, Bianca. The old staircase
Is full of pitfalls, and the churlish moon
Grows, like a miser, niggard of her beams,
And hides her face behind a muslin mask
As harlots do when they go forth to snare
Some wretched soul in sin. Now, I will get
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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 The Soul of the Far East by Percival Lowell: cause of his own misery. Get rid, then, said the Buddha, of these
passions, these strivings for the sake of self, that hold the true
soul a prisoner. They have to do with things which we know are
transitory: how can they be immortal themselves? We recognize them
as subject to our will; they are, then, not the I.
As a man, he taught, becomes conscious that he himself is something
distinct from his body, so, if he reflect and ponder, he will come
to see that in like manner his appetites, ambitions, hopes, are
really extrinsic to the spirit proper. Neither heart nor head is
truly the man, for he is conscious of something that stands behind
both. Behind desire, behind even the will, lies the soul, the same
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