| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Crowd by Gustave le Bon: in baptizing with popular or, at any rate, indifferent words
things the crowd cannot endure under their old names. The power
of words is so great that it suffices to designate in well-chosen
terms the most odious things to make them acceptable to crowds.
Taine justly observes that it was by invoking liberty and
fraternity--words very popular at the time-- that the Jacobins
were able "to install a despotism worthy of Dahomey, a tribunal
similar to that of the Inquisition, and to accomplish human
hecatombs akin to those of ancient Mexico." The art of those who
govern, as is the case with the art of advocates, consists above
all in the science of employing words. One of the greatest
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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 My Aunt Margaret's Mirror by Walter Scott: place for long explanations. What are your commands with me?'
"'Your ladyship,' said the old man, 'had once a sister.'
"'True; whom I loved as my own soul.'
"'And a brother.'
"'The bravest, the kindest, the most affectionate!' said Lady
Bothwell.
"'Both these beloved relatives you lost by the fault of an
unfortunate man,' continued the stranger.
"'By the crime of an unnatural, bloody-minded murderer,' said the
lady.
"'I am answered,' replied the old man, bowing, as if to withdraw.
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