| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Sanitary and Social Lectures by Charles Kingsley: as I can ascertain, has man been inventing stimulants and
narcotics to supply that want of vitality of which he is so
painfully aware; and has asked nature, and not God, to clear the
dull brain, and comfort the weary spirit.
This has been, and will be perhaps for many a century to come,
almost the most fearful failing of this poor, exceptional, over-
organised, diseased, and truly fallen being called Man, who is in
doubt daily whether he be a god or an ape; and in trying wildly to
become the former, ends but too often in becoming the latter.
For man, whether savage or civilised, feels, and has felt in every
age, that there is something wrong with him. He usually confesses
|
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 Herbert West: Reanimator by H. P. Lovecraft: pugnacious companion hunted down.
That same night saw the beginning
of the second Arkham horror -- the horror that to me eclipsed
the plague itself. Christchurch Cemetery was the scene of a terrible
killing; a watchman having been clawed to death in a manner not
only too hideous for description, but raising a doubt as to the
human agency of the deed. The victim had been seen alive considerably
after midnight -- the dawn revealed the unutterable thing. The
manager of a circus at the neighbouring town of Bolton was questioned,
but he swore that no beast had at any time escaped from its cage.
Those who found the body noted a trail of blood leading to the
Herbert West: Reanimator |
