| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Songs of Travel by Robert Louis Stevenson: Or in your tranquil garden ground,
Contented, in the falling gloom,
Saunter and see the roses bloom.
That these might live, what thousands died!
All day the cruel hoe was plied;
The ambulance barrow rolled all day;
Your wife, the tender, kind, and gay,
Donned her long gauntlets, caught the spud,
And bathed in vegetable blood;
And the long massacre now at end,
See! where the lazy coils ascend,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Koran: believe, so pardon us, "and have mercy upon us, for Thou art the
best of the merciful ones.'
And ye took them for a jest until ye forgat my reminder and did
laugh thereat. Verily, I have recompensed them this day for their
patience; verily, they are happy now.
He will say, 'How long a number of years did ye tarry on earth?'
They will say, 'We tarried a day or part of a day, but ask the
Numberers.'
He will say, 'Ye have only tarried a little, were ye but to know it.
Did ye then reckon that we created you for sport, and that to us ye
would not return?' But exalted be God, the true; there is no god but
The Koran |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Man of Business by Honore de Balzac: it. It is only fit for a widow that wishes to keep body and soul
together, or for some hideously ugly thing that fancies she can catch
a husband with a little finery.'
" 'It was your own choice,' returned the Count. Just at that moment,
in came Nucingen, of whom Maxime, king of lions (the 'yellow kid
gloves' were the lions of that day) had won three thousand francs the
evening before. Nucingen had come to pay his gaming debt.
" 'Ein writ of attachment haf shoost peen served on me by der order of
dot teufel Glabaron,' he said, seeing Maxime's astonishment.
" 'Oh, so that is how they are going to work, is it?' cried Maxime.
'They are not up to much, that pair--'
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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 Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte by Karl Marx: to the old routine; more seeming harmony permeating the whole of society
together with a deeper alienation of its several elements. While the
Parisian proletariat was still gloating over the sight of the great
perspective that had disclosed itself to their view, and was indulging
in seriously meant discussions over the social problems, the old powers
of society had groomed themselves, had gathered together, had
deliberated and found an unexpected support in the mass of the
nation--the peasants and small traders--all of whom threw themselves on
a sudden upon the political stage, after the barriers of the July
monarchy had fallen down.
The second period, from May 4, 1848, to the end of May, 1849, is the
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