Today's Stichomancy for Chow Yun Fat
| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe: Maid-servants especially, and men-servants, were the chief of their
customers, and their question generally was, after the first demand of
'Will there be a plague?' I say, the next question was, 'Oh, sir I for the
Lord's sake, what will become of me? Will my mistress keep me, or
will she turn me off? Will she stay here, or will she go into the
country? And if she goes into the country, will she take me with her,
or leave me here to be starved and undone?' And the like of menservants.
The truth is, the case of poor servants was very dismal, as I shall
have occasion to mention again by-and-by, for it was apparent a
prodigious number of them would be turned away, and it was so. And
of them abundance perished, and particularly of those that these false
A Journal of the Plague Year |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Royalty Restored/London Under Charles II by J. Fitzgerald Molloy: and the loyal demonstrations of the citizens. Weary of civil
strife, depressed with fear of Cromwell's severities, and
distrustful of the Presbyterians, who chiefly composed the young
king's army, the Royalists had not gathered to his standard in
such numbers as he had anticipated. His troops, since leaving
Scotland, had been reinforced merely by two thousand men; but
Charles had hopes that fresh recruits would join him when news of
the rising got noised abroad.
The Republicans were filled with dismay at the king's determined
action, but were prompt to make a counter-move, Accordingly,
additional troops were levied, London was left to be defended by
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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 Garden Party by Katherine Mansfield: ...No, madam, I can't say I noticed it. Perhaps some girls. But you see,
it's like this, I've got nobody but my lady. My mother died of consumption
when I was four, and I lived with my grandfather, who kept a hair-dresser's
shop. I used to spend all my time in the shop under a table dressing my
doll's hair--copying the assistants, I suppose. They were ever so kind to
me. Used to make me little wigs, all colours, the latest fashions and all.
And there I'd sit all day, quiet as quiet--the customers never knew. Only
now and again I'd take my peep from under the table-cloth.
...But one day I managed to get a pair of scissors and--would you believe
it, madam? I cut off all my hair; snipped it off all in bits, like the
little monkey I was. Grandfather was furious! He caught hold of the
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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 A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe: upon those parts, that is to say, the city, the eight parishes over the
river, with the parishes of Aldgate, Whitechappel, and Stepney; and
this was the time that the bills came up to such a monstrous height as
that I mentioned before, and that eight or nine, and, as I believe, ten or
twelve thousand a week, died; for it is my settled opinion that they
never could come at any just account of the numbers, for the reasons
which I have given already.
Nay, one of the most eminent physicians, who has since published
in Latin an account of those times, and of his observations says that in
one week there died twelve thousand people, and that particularly
there died four thousand in one night; though I do not remember that
A Journal of the Plague Year |
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