| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Droll Stories, V. 1 by Honore de Balzac: Blanche went out hunting without her goodman, and when she was in the
forest near Les Carneaux, saw a monk who appeared to be pushing a girl
about more than was necessary, and spurred on her horse, saying to her
people, "Ho there! Don't let him kill her." But when the seneschal's
lady arrived close to them, she turned her horse's head quickly and
the sight she beheld prevented her from hunting. She came back
pensive, and then the lantern of her intelligence opened, and received
a bright light, which made a thousand things clear, such as church and
other pictures, fables, and lays of the troubadours, or the domestic
arrangements of birds; suddenly she discovered the sweet mystery of
love written in all languages, even in that of the Carps'. Is it not
Droll Stories, V. 1 |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The First Men In The Moon by H. G. Wells: experienced a considerable relaxation of his confinement. "The first dread
and distrust our unfortunate conflict aroused is being," he said,
"continually effaced by the deliberate rationality of all I do." ... "I am
now able to come and go as I please, or I am restricted only for my own
good. So it is I have been able to get at this apparatus, and, assisted
by a happy find among the material that is littered in this enormous
store-cave, I have contrived to despatch these messages. So far not the
slightest attempt has been made to interfere with me in this, though I
have made it quite clear to Phi-oo that I am signalling to the earth.
"'You talk to other?' he asked, watching me.
"'Others,' said I.
The First Men In The Moon |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells: year. . .
With overwhelming force came the thought of myself,
of my wife, and the old life of hope and tender helpfulness
that had ceased for ever.
CHAPTER NINE
WRECKAGE
And now comes the strangest thing in my story. Yet,
perhaps, it is not altogether strange. I remember, clearly and
coldly and vividly, all that I did that day until the time that
I stood weeping and praising God upon the summit of Prim-
rose Hill. And then I forget.
War of the Worlds |
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 Gods of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: "He died before the shell broke to let me step out into a
world that has been very good to me. But for the sorrow
that I had never the honour to know my father, I have been
very happy. My only sorrow now is that my mother must
mourn me as she has for ten long years mourned my father."
"Who was your father?" I asked.
He was about to reply when the outer door of our prison
opened and a burly guard entered and ordered him to his
own quarters for the night, locking the door after him
as he passed through into the further chamber.
"It is Issus' wish that you two be confined in the same
The Gods of Mars |
