| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Catherine de Medici by Honore de Balzac: anything. This is one of the passages of history that will ever remain
obscure. We may see by what happens in our own day how history is
falsified at the very moment when events happen.
Catherine, who had founded great hopes on the age of her rival, tried
more than once to overthrow her. It was a dumb, underhand, terrible
struggle. The day came when Catherine believed herself for a moment on
the verge of success. In 1554, Diane, who was ill, begged the king to
go to Saint-Germain and leave her for a short time until she
recovered. This stately coquette did not choose to be seen in the
midst of medical appliances and without the splendors of apparel.
Catherine arranged, as a welcome to her husband, a magnificent ballet,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tao Teh King by Lao-tze: acts of crafty dexterity that men possess, the more do strange
contrivances appear; the more display there is of legislation, the
more thieves and robbers there are.
3. Therefore a sage has said, 'I will do nothing (of purpose), and the
people will be transformed of themselves; I will be fond of keeping
still, and the people will of themselves become correct. I will take
no trouble about it, and the people will of themselves become rich; I
will manifest no ambition, and the people will of themselves attain to
the primitive simplicity.'
58. 1. The government that seems the most unwise,
Oft goodness to the people best supplies;
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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 The Poems of Goethe, Bowring, Tr. by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: 1827.*
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ART.
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Artist, fashion! talk not long!
Be a breath thine only song!
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THE DROPS OF NECTAR.
WHEN Minerva, to give pleasure
To Prometheus, her well-loved one,
Brought a brimming bowl of nectar
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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 The Master Key by L. Frank Baum: were at a disadvantage, for the active Tatars slipped beneath their
horses and disabled them, bringing both the animals and their riders
to the earth.
At the first onslaught Rob shot his pistol at a Turk and wounded him
so severely that he fell from his horse. Instantly the boy seized the
bridle and sprang upon the steed's back, and the next moment he had
dashed into the thickest part of the fray. Bullets and blows rained
upon him from all sides, but the Garment of Repulsion saved him from a
single scratch.
When his pistols had been discharged he caught up the broken handle of
a spear, and used it as a club, galloping into the ranks of the Turks
The Master Key |
