| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot: Madame Sosostris, famous clairvoyante,
Had a bad cold, nevertheless
Is known to be the wisest woman in Europe,
With a wicked pack of cards. Here, said she,
Is your card, the drowned Phoenician Sailor,
(Those are pearls that were his eyes. Look!)
Here is Belladonna, the Lady of the Rocks,
The lady of situations. 50
Here is the man with three staves, and here the Wheel,
And here is the one-eyed merchant, and this card,
Which is blank, is something he carries on his back,
The Waste Land |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Talisman by Walter Scott: as we are, a juggler hath more reverence amongst our varlets than
a priest or a saint, and they may, perchance, put some scorn upon
him."
The knight obeyed, and Richard presently gave way to the thoughts
which the wild prophecy of the monk had inspired. "To die early
--without lineage--without lamentation! A heavy sentence, and
well that it is not passed by a more competent judge. Yet the
Saracens, who are accomplished in mystical knowledge, will often
maintain that He, in whose eyes the wisdom of the sage is but as
folly, inspires wisdom and prophecy into the seeming folly of the
madman. Yonder hermit is said to read the stars, too, an art
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Market-Place by Harold Frederic: admonished her, gravely. "Nobody has a right
to be so deficient in courage as you allow yourself to be."
"But I'm not a coward," the other protested.
"I could be as brave as anybody--as brave as you are--if
a chance were given me. But of what use is bravery
against a wall twenty feet high? I can't get over it.
I only wound and cripple myself by trying to tear it down,
or break through it.--Oh yes, I know what you say! You say
there is no wall--that it is all an illusion of mine.
But unfortunately I'm unable to take that view.
I've battered myself against it too long--too sorely, Celia!"
The Market-Place |
