| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce: bishop.
If I were a jolly archbishop,
On Fridays I'd eat all the fish up --
Salmon and flounders and smelts;
On other days everything else.
Jodo Rem
ARCHITECT, n. One who drafts a plan of your house, and plans a draft
of your money.
ARDOR, n. The quality that distinguishes love without knowledge.
ARENA, n. In politics, an imaginary rat-pit in which the statesman
wrestles with his record.
The Devil's Dictionary |
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 Vendetta by Honore de Balzac: of their reciprocal love: it was love undivided. Ginevra's whole heart
belonged to her father, as Piombo's whole heart belonged to his child;
and if it be true that we are bound to one another more by our defects
than by our virtues, Ginevra echoed in a marvellous manner the
passions of her father. There lay the sole imperfection of this triple
life. Ginevra was born unyielding of will, vindictive, and passionate,
like her father in his youth.
The Corsican had taken pleasure in developing these savage sentiments
in the heart of his daughter, precisely as a lion teaches the lion-
cubs to spring upon their prey. But this apprenticeship to vengeance
having no means of action in their family life, it came to pass that
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