| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde: or tells one everything about them except what one wants
to know."
"Poor Lady Brandon! You are hard on her, Harry!" said Hallward listlessly.
"My dear fellow, she tried to found a salon, and only succeeded
in opening a restaurant. How could I admire her? But tell me,
what did she say about Mr. Dorian Gray?"
"Oh, something like, 'Charming boy--poor dear mother and I
absolutely inseparable. Quite forget what he does--afraid he--
doesn't do anything--oh, yes, plays the piano--or is it
the violin, dear Mr. Gray?' Neither of us could help laughing,
and we became friends at once."
The Picture of Dorian Gray |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen: what I saw perish was not Mary, and yet in the last agony Mary's
eyes looked into mine. Whether there can be any one who can
show the last link in this chain of awful mystery, I do not
know, but if there be any one who can do this, you, Raymond, are
the man. And if you know the secret, it rests with you to tell
it or not, as you please.
I am writing this letter to you immediately on my
getting back to town. I have been in the country for the last
few days; perhaps you may be able to guess in which part. While
the horror and wonder of London was at its height--for "Mrs.
Beaumont," as I have told you, was well known in society--I
The Great God Pan |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Phaedo by Plato: was saying before; the habit of the soul gathering and collecting herself
into herself from all sides out of the body; the dwelling in her own place
alone, as in another life, so also in this, as far as she can;--the release
of the soul from the chains of the body?
Very true, he said.
And this separation and release of the soul from the body is termed death?
To be sure, he said.
And the true philosophers, and they only, are ever seeking to release the
soul. Is not the separation and release of the soul from the body their
especial study?
That is true.
|
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 Life of the Spider by J. Henri Fabre: place? They are there in their hundreds. They must separate, go
far away, isolate themselves in a spot where there is not too much
fear of competition among neighbours. How will they set to work to
achieve this distant exodus, weaklings that they are, taking such
very tiny steps?
I receive the first answer from another and much earlier Epeira,
whose family I find, at the beginning of May, on a yucca in the
enclosure. The plant blossomed last year. The branching flower-
stem, some three feet high, still stands erect, though withered.
On the green leaves, shaped like a sword-blade, swarm two newly-
hatched families. The wee beasties are a dull yellow, with a
The Life of the Spider |
