| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Life of the Spider by J. Henri Fabre: now she moves towards it and with closer and more numerous circles.
She starts from the base of the auxiliary spiral, near the frame.
What follows is difficult to observe, for the movements are very
quick and spasmodic, consisting of a series of sudden little
rushes, sways and bends that bewilder the eye. It needs continuous
attention and repeated examination to distinguish the progress of
the work however slightly.
The two hind-legs, the weaving implements, keep going constantly.
Let us name them according to their position on the work-floor. I
call the leg that faces the centre of the coil, when the animal
moves, the 'inner leg;' the one outside the coil the 'outer leg.'
The Life of the Spider |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Bab:A Sub-Deb, Mary Roberts Rinehart by Mary Roberts Rinehart: My sufferings were over. In a short time I had slid down and was
making my way through the dewey morn toward my home. Before the sun
was up, or more than starting, I had climbed to my casement by
means of a wire trellis, and put on my ROBE DE NUIT. But before I
settled to sleep I went to the pantrey and there satisfied the
pangs of nothing since Breakfast the day before. All the lights
seemed to be on, on the lower floor, which I considered wastful of
Tanney, the butler. But being sleepy, gave it no further thought.
And so to bed, as the great English dairy-keeper, Pepys, had said
in his dairy.
It seemed but a few moments later that I heard a scream, and
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Memoir of Fleeming Jenkin by Robert Louis Stevenson: experiments on the state of the cable, leaving me with the prospect
of beginning to lift at 12 o'clock. I was not ready by that time;
but the experiments were not concluded and moreover the cable was
found to be imbedded some four or five feet in sand, so that the
boat could not bring off the end. At three, Messrs. Liddell, &c.,
came on board in good spirits, having found two wires good or in
such a state as permitted messages to be transmitted freely. The
boat now went to grapple for the cable some way from shore while
the ELBA towed a small lateen craft which was to take back the
consul to Cagliari some distance on its way. On our return we
found the boat had been unsuccessful; she was allowed to drop
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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 Taras Bulba and Other Tales by Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol: fine to-day."
At these last words, Ivan Ivanovitch nearly died.
"But permit me," went on the chief. "I have come to you to-day about a
very important affair." Here the chief's face and bearing assumed the
same careworn aspect with which he had ascended to the balcony.
Ivan Ivanovitch breathed again, and shook as if in a fever, omitting
not, as was his habit, to put a question. "What is the important
matter? Is it important?"
"Pray judge for yourself; in the first place I venture to report to
you, dear friend and benefactor, Ivan Ivanovitch, that you-- I beg you
to observe that, for my own part, I should have nothing to say; but
Taras Bulba and Other Tales |
