| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Little Rivers by Henry van Dyke: an especially silent time. The deer are asleep in some wild
meadow. The partridge has gathered her brood for their midday nap.
The squirrels are perhaps counting over their store of nuts in a
hollow tree, and the hermit-thrush spares his voice until evening.
The woods are close--not cool and fragrant as the foolish romances
describe them--but warm and still; for the breeze which sweeps
across the hilltop and ruffles the lake does not penetrate into
these shady recesses, and therefore all the inhabitants take the
noontide as their hour of rest. Only the big woodpecker--he of the
scarlet head and mighty bill--is indefatigable, and somewhere
unseen is "tapping the hollow beech-tree," while a wakeful little
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Reign of King Edward the Third by William Shakespeare: To win thy life, or to revenge thy death?
If thou wilt drink the blood of captive kings,
Or that it were restorative, command
A Health of kings' blood, and I'll drink to thee;
If honor may dispense for thee with death,
The never dying honor of this day
Share wholly, Audley, to thy self, and live.
AUDLEY.
Victorious Prince,--that thou art so, behold
A Caesar's fame in king's captivity--
If I could hold him death but at a bay,
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Case of the Registered Letter by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner: happen that would render impossible for me to carry out my plans,
I will send Pernburg another letter asking him not to carry out
the instructions of the first.
I can now proceed to tell you what will happen here to-morrow
evening, the 23rd of September.
Albert Graumann will come to me, unknown to his family or friends,
as I have asked him to come. I will so arrange it that the old
servant will see him come in but will not see him go out. My
landlady will not be in my way, for she has already told me that
she will spend the night of the 23rd with her mother, in another
part of the city. It is to be a birthday celebration I believe,
|
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 Kenilworth by Walter Scott: precaution to see that it had not been opened, or its locks
tampered with, Leicester applied a key to the steel casket, and
drew from it, first, a parcel of gold pieces, which he put into a
silk purse; then a parchment inscribed with planetary signs, and
the lines and calculations used in framing horoscopes, on which
he gazed intently for a few moments; and, lastly, took forth a
large key, which, lifting aside the tapestry, he applied to a
little, concealed door in the corner of the apartment, and
opening it, disclosed a stair constructed in the thickness of the
wall.
"Alasco," said the Earl, with a voice raised, yet no higher
Kenilworth |
