| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Mucker by Edgar Rice Burroughs: stealthily along in the shadows until he was quite close to
them, and behind them. On the way he had gathered up a
cute little granite paving block, than which there is nothing
in the world harder, not even a Twelfth Street skull. He was
quite close now to one of the men--he who was wielding
the officer's club to such excellent disadvantage to the officer
--and then he raised the paving block only to lower it
silently and suddenly upon the back of that unsuspecting head
--"and then there were two."
Before the man's companions realized what had happened
Billy had possessed himself of the fallen club and struck one
 The Mucker |
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: warmth of her body will bring forth life. The Epeira knows not
these softer passions. Without bestowing a second glance an it,
she abandons her nest to its fate, be it good or ill.
CHAPTER III: THE NARBONNE LYCOSA
The Epeira, who displays such astonishing industry to give her eggs
a dwelling-house of incomparable perfection, becomes, after that,
careless of her family. For what reason? She lacks the time. She
has to die when the first cold comes, whereas the eggs are destined
to pass the winter in their downy snuggery. The desertion of the
nest is inevitable, owing to the very force of things. But, if the
hatching were earlier and took place in the Epeira's lifetime, I
 The Life of the Spider |