| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from 1492 by Mary Johntson: folk greatly feared to give offense to gods from the sky.
Above the ships held a range of pearly clouds, out of which
indeed one might make strange lands and forms. The Indians
--Christopherus Columbus called them ``Indians''--
pointed from ships to cloud. They spoke with movements
of reverence. ``You have come down--you have come
down!'' We understood them, though their words were not
ours.
Now the greenwood rose close at hand. The trees differed,
the woven thickness of it, the color and blossom, from any
wood at home. A space opened before us, and here was
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Herbert West: Reanimator by H. P. Lovecraft: wholly out of the factory district. We were not much displeased,
however, since there were no people between us and our sinister
source of supplies. The walk was a trifle long, but we could haul
our silent specimens undisturbed.
Our practice was surprisingly
large from the very first -- large enough to please most young
doctors, and large enough to prove a bore and a burden to students
whose real interest lay elsewhere. The mill-hands were of somewhat
turbulent inclinations; and besides their many natural needs,
their frequent clashes and stabbing affrays gave us plenty to
do. But what actually absorbed our minds was the secret laboratory
Herbert West: Reanimator |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Vailima Letters by Robert Louis Stevenson: story. I have to announce that I am off work, probably for
six months. I must own that I have overworked bitterly -
overworked - there, that's legible. My hand is a thing that
was, and in the meanwhile so are my brains. And here, in the
very midst, comes a plausible scheme to make Vailima pay,
which will perhaps let me into considerable expense just when
I don't want it. You know the vast cynicism of my view of
affairs, and how readily and (as some people say) with how
much gusto I take the darker view?
Why do you not send me Jerome K. Jerome's paper, and let me
see THE EBB TIDE as a serial? It is always very important to
|
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 Emma McChesney & Co. by Edna Ferber: pockets, stood in the bedroom door and watched her plunge into
the innermost depths of the clothes-closet.
"What's the idea, Emma?"
"Looking for something," came back his wife's muffled tones.
A long wait.
"Can I help?"
"I've got it!" cried Emma, and emerged triumphant, flushed,
smiling, holding a garment at arm's length, aloft.
"What----"
Emma shook it smartly, turned it this way and that, held it up
under her chin by the sleeves.
Emma McChesney & Co. |
