| 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: age, man will make a flaming torch that will put an end, among us,
to the principles of the brutes and, one day, utterly change the
face of society.
CHAPTER XV: THE LABYRINTH SPIDER
While the Epeirae, with their gorgeous net-tapestries, are
incomparable weavers, many other Spiders excel in ingenious devices
for filling their stomachs and leaving a lineage behind them: the
two primary laws of living things. Some of them are celebrities of
long-standing renown, who are mentioned in all the books.
Certain Mygales {36} inhabit a burrow, like the Narbonne Lycosa,
but of a perfection unknown to the brutal Spider of the waste-
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 Euthydemus by Plato: Iolaus to help. Dionysodorus rejoins that Iolaus was no more the nephew of
Heracles than of Socrates. For a nephew is a nephew, and a brother is a
brother, and a father is a father, not of one man only, but of all; nor of
men only, but of dogs and sea-monsters. Ctesippus makes merry with the
consequences which follow: 'Much good has your father got out of the
wisdom of his puppies.'
'But,' says Euthydemus, unabashed, 'nobody wants much good.' Medicine is a
good, arms are a good, money is a good, and yet there may be too much of
them in wrong places. 'No,' says Ctesippus, 'there cannot be too much
gold.' And would you be happy if you had three talents of gold in your
belly, a talent in your pate, and a stater in either eye?' Ctesippus,
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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 Common Sense by Thomas Paine: what is it that we want? Why is it that we hesitate? From Britain we can
expect nothing but ruin. If she is once admitted to the government
of America again, this Continent will not be worth living in.
Jealousies will be always arising; insurrections will be constantly happening;
and who will go forth to quell them? Who will venture his life to reduce his
own countrymen to a foreign obedience? The difference between Pennsylvania
and Connecticut, respecting some unlocated lands, shews the insignificance
of a British government, and fully proves, that nothing but Continental
authority can regulate Continental matters.
Another reason why the present time is preferable to all others, is,
that the fewer our numbers are, the more land there is yet unoccupied,
Common Sense |
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 Cruise of the Jasper B. by Don Marquis: isn't square!"
There was suffering and perplexity in his gaze; he was evidently
living over again some painful scene.
"I'm a revolutionist, Loge, not a crook! I won't do it, Loge!"
Watching him, it was impossible not to understand that the
struggle, which his delirium made real and present again, had
stamped itself into the texture of his spirit. "You shouldn't
ask it, Loge," he said. The crisis of the conflict which he was
living over passed presently, and he murmured, with contracted
brows, and as if talking to himself: "Is Loge a crook? A crook?"
But after a moment of this he returned again to a rapid
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