| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Herodias by Gustave Flaubert: Sea became visible. The sun, rising behind Machaerus, spread a rosy
flush over the sky, lighting up the stony shores, the hills, and the
desert, and illuming the distant mountains of Judea, rugged and grey
in the early dawn. En-gedi, the central point of the group, threw a
deep black shadow; Hebron, in the background, was round-topped like a
dome; Eschol had her pomegranates, Sorek her vineyards, Carmel her
fields of sesame; and the tower of Antonia, with its enormous cube,
dominated Jerusalem. The tetrarch turned his gaze from it to
contemplate the palms of Jericho on his right; and his thoughts dwelt
upon other cities of his beloved Galilee,--Capernaum, Endor, Nazareth,
Tiberias--whither it might be he would never return.
Herodias |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Simple Soul by Gustave Flaubert: the convent every Tuesday. In the garden there was a terrace, from
which the view extends to the Seine. Virginia walked in it, leaning on
her mother's arm and treading the dead vine leaves. Sometimes the sun,
shining through the clouds, made her blink her lids, when she gazed at
the sails in the distance, and let her eyes roam over the horizon from
the chateau of Tancarville to the lighthouses of Havre. Then they
rested on the arbour. Her mother had bought a little cask of fine
Malaga wine, and Virginia, laughing at the idea of becoming
intoxicated, would drink a few drops of it, but never more.
Her strength returned. Autumn passed. Felicite began to reassure
Madame Aubain. But, one evening, when she returned home after an
A Simple Soul |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Nada the Lily by H. Rider Haggard: and they also drew the blankets from their brows. I spoke, saying:
"Hail to you, Princes, who to-morrow shall be dust! Hail to you, sons
of Senzangacona, who to-morrow shall be spirits!" and I pointed
towards them with my withered hand.
Now the princes were troubled, and shook with fear.
"What meanest thou, thou dog, that thou dost speak to us words of such
ill-omen?" said the Prince Dingaan in a low voice.
"Where dost thou point at us with that white and withered hand of
thine, Wizard?" hissed the Prince Umhlangana.
"Have I not told you, O ye Princes!" I whispered, "that ye must strike
or die, and has not your heart failed you? Now hearken! Chaka has
Nada the Lily |
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 Mosses From An Old Manse by Nathaniel Hawthorne: overthrow I quite forgot that there was a Mrs. Bullfrog in the
world. Like many men's wives, the good lady served her husband as
a steppingstone. I had scrambled out of the coach and was
instinctively settling my cravat, when somebody brushed roughly
by me, and I heard a smart thwack upon the coachman's ear.
"Take that, you villain!" cried a strange, hoarse voice. "You
have ruined me, you blackguard! I shall never be the woman I have
been!"
And then came a second thwack, aimed at the driver's other ear;
but which missed it, and hit him on the nose, causing a terrible
effusion of blood. Now, who or what fearful apparition was
Mosses From An Old Manse |
