| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Bickerstaff-Partridge Papers by Jonathan Swift: it is enough to justify their authority, that the book from
whence I have transcrib'd them, was printed 170 years ago, as
appears by the title-page. For the satisfaction of any gentleman,
who may be either doubtful of the truth, or curious to be
inform'd; I shall give order to have the very book sent to the
printer of this paper, with directions to let anybody see it that
pleases, because I believe it is pretty scarce.
_____________________________________
[Dr. John Arbuthnot and Alexander Pope]
Annus Mirabilis: or,
The wonderful effects of the approaching conjunction of the
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin: estancias, and by disciplining several hundred men, so as to
resist with success the attacks of the Indians. There are
many stories current about the rigid manner in which his
laws were enforced. One of these was, that no man, on
penalty of being put into the stocks, should carry his knife
on a Sunday: this being the principal day for gambling and
drinking, many quarrels arose, which from the general manner
of fighting with the knife often proved fatal. One
Sunday the Governor came in great form to pay the estancia
a visit, and General Rosas, in his hurry, walked out to receive
him with his knife, as usual, stuck in his belt. The steward
The Voyage of the Beagle |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Lost Continent by Edgar Rice Burroughs: I talked with her the more hopeful I became of finding here,
among her people, some records, or traditions, which might
assist in clearing up the historic enigma of the past two
centuries. I asked her if we were far from the city of
London, but she did not know what I meant. When I tried to
explain, describing mighty buildings of stone and brick,
broad avenues, parks, palaces, and countless people, she but
shook her head sadly.
"There is no such place near by," she said. "Only the Camp
of the Lions has places of stone where the beasts lair, but
there are no people in the Camp of the Lions. Who would
Lost Continent |
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 Chessmen of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: over one of the deserted cities of ancient Mars. It was Torquas,
but she did not know it. Had she, she might readily have been
forgiven for abandoning the last vestige of hope, for to the
people of Helium Torquas seems as remote as do the South Sea
Islands to us. And still the tempest, its fury unabated, bore her
on.
All that night she hurtled through the dark beneath the clouds,
or rose to race through the moonlit void beneath the glory of
Barsoom's two satellites. She was cold and hungry and altogether
miserable, but her brave little spirit refused to admit that her
plight was hopeless even though reason proclaimed the truth. Her
The Chessmen of Mars |
