| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath by H. P. Lovecraft: because his body was dead; but he had done the next best thing
and dreamed a small tract of such countryside in the region east
of the city where meadows roll gracefully up from the sea-cliffs
to the foot of the Tanarian Hills. There he dwelt in a grey Gothic
manor-house of stone looking on the sea, and tried to think it
was ancient Trevor Towers, where he was born and where thirteen
generations of his forefathers had first seen the light. And on
the coast nearby he had built a little Cornish fishing village
with steep cobbled ways, settling therein such people as had the
most English faces, and seeking ever to teach them the dear remembered
accents of old Cornwall fishers. And in a valley not far off he
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Straight Deal by Owen Wister: are no longer there. For a while they may not be. But do you think
Germany intends that scraps of paper shall be abolished by any Treaty,
even though it contain 80,000 words and a League of Nations? She will
make of that Treaty a whole basket of scraps, if she can, and as soon as
she can. She has said so. Her workingmen are at work, industrious and
content with a quarter the pay for a longer day than anywhere else. Let
those persons who cannot get over George the Third and the Alabama ponder
upon this for a minute or two.
Chapter VI: Who Is Without Sin?
Much else is there that it were well they should ponder, and I am coming
to it presently; but first, one suggestion. Most of us, if we dig back
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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 The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas: her hand upon the bag of gold.
"No," said the captain, "I make but one bargain; and I have
agreed with this young man that the other five hundred shall not
be due to me till we arrive at Boulogne."
"And shall we arrive there?"
"Safe and sound, as true as my name's Jack Butler."
"Well," said Milady, "if you keep your word, instead of five
hundred, I will give you a thousand pistoles."
"Hurrah for you, then, my beautiful lady," cried the captain;
"and may God often send me such passengers as your Ladyship!"
"Meanwhile," said Felton, "convey me to the little bay of--; you
The Three Musketeers |
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 Exiles by Honore de Balzac: object of our actions; we are merciless to the creatures of the
inferior spheres, and exile them from our own; we deny them the
faculty of divining human thoughts, and yet we ourselves would fain
master the highest of all ideas--the Idea of the Idea!
"Well, go then, start! Fly by faith up from globe to globe, soar
through space! Thought, love, and faith are its mystical keys.
Traverse the circles, reach the throne! God is more merciful than you
are; He opens His temple to all His creatures. Only, do not forget the
pattern of Moses; put your shoes from off your feet, cast off all
filth, leave your body far behind; otherwise you shall be consumed;
for God--God is Light!"
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