| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Historical Lecturers and Essays by Charles Kingsley: enchanters, genii, peris, and what not? The Jewish rabbis had their
Cabala, which sprang up in Alexandria, a system of philosophy
founded on the mystic meaning of the words and the actual letters of
the text of Scripture, which some said was given by the angel Ragiel
to Adam in Paradise, by which Adam talked with angels, the sun and
moon, summoned spirits, interpreted dreams, healed and destroyed;
and by that book of Ragiel, as it was called, Solomon became the
great magician and master of all the spirits and their hoarded
treasures.
So strong, indeed, was the belief in the mysteries of the Cabala,
that Reuchlin, the restorer of Hebrew learning in Germany, and Pico
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from A Passion in the Desert by Honore de Balzac: curved contour of the panther.
But there was such youth and grace in her form! she was beautiful as a
woman! the blond fur of her robe mingled well with the delicate tints
of faint white which marked her flanks.
The profuse light cast down by the sun made this living gold, these
russet markings, to burn in a way to give them an indefinable
attraction.
The man and the panther looked at one another with a look full of
meaning; the coquette quivered when she felt her friend stroke her
head; her eyes flashed like lightning--then she shut them tightly.
"She has a soul," he said, looking at the stillness of this queen of
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Court Life in China by Isaac Taylor Headland: look over the heads of the men to view the theatre, would not be
caught allowing their eyes to dwell upon any one. But no doubt
these gentle little ladies have their own curiosity, and some
means of finding out who's who among that court full of dragon-
draped pillars of state; for I have never failed to receive a
ready answer when I inquired as to the name of some handsome or
distinguished-looking guest whose identity I wished to learn.
The theatre goes on interminably. Like my lady, they change their
clothes, and the scenery, in full view of the audience. The plays
are mostly historical, the women's parts being taken by men, as
women are not allowed to go on the stage. One daring company, in
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