| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Rig Veda: Wherewith ye brought the host of kind Gods to Sudas-Come hither
unto
us, O Asvins, with those aids.
20 Wherewith ye bring great bliss to him who offers gifts,
wherewith
ye have protected Bhujyu, Adhrigu,
And good and gracious Subhara and Rtastup,-Come hither unto
us, O
Asvins, with those aids.
21 Wherewith ye served Krsanu where the shafts were shot, and
helped
The Rig Veda |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Start in Life by Honore de Balzac: next morning incognito in Pierrotin's coucou?
Here a few words on the life of the steward Moreau become
indispensable.
Moreau, steward of the state of Presles, was the son of a provincial
attorney who became during the Revolution syndic-attorney at
Versailles. In that position, Moreau the father had been the means of
almost saving both the lives and property of the Serizys, father and
son. Citizen Moreau belonged to the Danton party; Robespierre,
implacable in his hatreds, pursued him, discovered him, and finally
had him executed at Versailles. Moreau the son, heir to the doctrines
and friendships of his father, was concerned in one of the
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Rescue by Joseph Conrad: thing floated clear away from the earth, and rolling itself into
an irregularly shaped mass, drifted out to seaward, travelling
slowly over the blue heavens, like a threatening and lonely
cloud.
PART II. THE SHORE OF REFUGE
I
The coast off which the little brig, floating upright above her
anchor, seemed to guard the high hull of the yacht has no
distinctive features. It is land without form. It stretches away
without cape or bluff, long and low--indefinitely; and when the
heavy gusts of the northeast monsoon drive the thick rain
The Rescue |
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 Rape of Lucrece by William Shakespeare: Yet in the eddy boundeth in his pride
Back to the strait that forc'd him on so fast;
In rage sent out, recall'd in rage, being past:
Even so his sighs, his sorrows make a saw.
To push grief on, and back the same grief draw.
Which speechless woe of his poor she attendeth,
And his untimely frenzy thus awaketh:
'Dear Lord, thy sorrow to my sorrow lendeth
Another power; no flood by raining slaketh.
My woe too sensible thy passion maketh
More feeling-painful: let it then suffice
|
