| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Camille by Alexandre Dumas: days, she has only been my mistress since yesterday, and she has
already so completely absorbed my thoughts, my heart, and my life
that the visit of the Comte de G. is a misfortune for me."
At last the count came out, got into his carriage and
disappeared. Prudence closed the window. At the same instant
Marguerite called to us:
"Come at once," she said; "they are laying the table, and we'll
have supper."
When I entered, Marguerite ran to me, threw her arms around my
neck and kissed me with all her might.
"Are we still sulky?" she said to me.
Camille |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Disputation of the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences by Dr. Martin Luther: non in cas confidant, Sed nocentissime, si timorem dei per eas
amittant.
25. [50] Docendi sunt christiani, quod si Papa nosset exactiones
venialium predicatorum, mallet Basilicam s. Petri in cineres ire
quam edificari cute, carne et ossibus ovium suarum.
1. [51] Docendi sunt christiani, quod Papa sicut debet ita vellet,
etiam vendita (si opus sit) Basilicam s. Petri, de suis pecuniis
dare illis, a quorum plurimis quidam concionatores veniarum
pecuniam eliciunt.
2. [52] Vana est fiducia salutis per literas veniarum, etiam si
Commissarius, immo Papa ipse suam animam pro illis impigneraret.
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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 Rig Veda: from
the floods, lauding thine own imperial sway.
3 Go forward, meet the foe, be bold; thy bolt of thunder is
not
checked.
Manliness, Indra, is thy might: stay Vrtra, make the waters
thine,
lauding thine own imperial sway.
4 Thou smotest Vrtra from the earth, smotest him, Indra, from
the sky.
Let these life-fostering waters flow attended by the Marut
The Rig Veda |
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 Hidden Masterpiece by Honore de Balzac: and carries on a thought which we must seize and render. Neither the
painter nor the poet nor the sculptor should separate the effect from
the cause, for they are indissolubly one. The true struggle of art
lies there. Many a painter has triumphed through instinct without
knowing this theory of art as a theory.
"Yes," continued the old man vehemently, "you draw a woman, but you do
not SEE her. That is not the way to force an entrance into the arcana
of Nature. Your hand reproduces, without an action of your mind, the
model you copied under a master. You do not search out the secrets of
form, nor follow its windings and evolutions with enough love and
perseverance. Beauty is solemn and severe, and cannot be attained in
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