| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Dreams by Olive Schreiner: ran through all, yet each part was different.
I said to God, "How does each man know where to set his stone, so that the
pattern is worked out?"
God said, "Because in the light his forehead sheds each man sees faintly
outlined that full crown."
And I said, "But how is it that each stone is joined along its edges to its
fellows, so that there is no seam anywhere?"
God said, "The stones are alive; they grow."
And I said, "But what does each man gain by his working?"
God said, "He sees his outline filled."
I said, "But those stones which are last set cover those which were first;
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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 Salammbo by Gustave Flaubert: very heavy. Only people of superior understanding honoured these
abaddirs, which had fallen from the moon. By their fall they denoted
the stars, the sky, and fire; by their colour dark night, and by their
density the cohesion of terrestrial things. A stifling atmosphere
filled this mystic place. The round stones lying in the niches were
whitened somewhat with sea-sand which the wind had no doubt driven
through the door. Hamilcar counted them one after another with the tip
of his finger; then he hid his face in a saffron-coloured veil, and,
falling on his knees, stretched himself on the ground with both arms
extended.
The daylight outside was beginning to strike on the folding shutters
Salammbo |
