| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Foolish Virgin by Thomas Dixon: apologetically. "Had to make these turns. There's no
room for her inside of town."
Mary had no time to answer. He touched the wheel,
and the car shot up the deserted Avenue. She gasped
for breath and braced her feet, her whole being
tingling with the first exhilarating consciousness that
she too was possessed of the devil of speed madness.
It was glorious! For the first time in her life, space
and distance lost their meaning. She was free as the
birds in the heavens. She was flying on the wings of
this gray, steel monster through space. The palaces on
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Dead Souls by Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol: candle-makers from London, and then turning landowners into hucksters!
To think of a Russian pomiestchik[9], a member of the noblest of
callings, conducting workshops and cotton mills! Why, it is for the
wenches of towns to handle looms for muslin and lace."
[9] Landowner.
"But you yourself maintain workshops?" remarked Platon.
"I do; but who established them? They established themselves. For
instance, wool had accumulated, and since I had nowhere to store it, I
began to weave it into cloth--but, mark you, only into good, plain
cloth of which I can dispose at a cheap rate in the local markets, and
which is needed by peasants, including my own. Again, for six years on
Dead Souls |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Child of Storm by H. Rider Haggard: A heavy splash, and that was the end of Umbelazi the Fallen--Umbelazi,
about whom Mameena had cast her net.
A sad story in truth. Although it happened so many years ago I weep as
I write it--I weep as Umbelazi wept.
CHAPTER XIV
UMBEZI AND THE BLOOD ROYAL
After this I think that some of the Usutu came up, for it seemed to me
that I heard Saduko say:
"Touch not Macumazahn or his servant. They are my prisoners. He who
harms them dies, with all his House."
So they put me, fainting, on my horse, and Scowl they carried away upon
Child of Storm |
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 Buttered Side Down by Edna Ferber: from Mary Louise's breast. The water was hot.
Half an hour later, head swathed turban fashion in a towel,
Mary Louise strolled over to the window. Then she stopped, aghast.
In that half hour the sun had slipped just around the corner, and
was now beating brightly and uselessly against the brick wall a few
inches away. Slowly Mary Louise unwound the towel, bent double in
the contortionistic attitude that women assume on such occasions,
and watched with melancholy eyes while the drops trickled down to
the ends of her hair, and fell, unsunned, to the floor.
"If only," thought Mary Louise, bitterly, "there was such a
thing as a back yard in this city--a back yard where I could squat
Buttered Side Down |
