Today's Stichomancy for H. G. Wells
| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Man against the Sky by Edwin Arlington Robinson: But what not even such as he may know
Bedevils him the worst: his lark may sing
At heaven's gate how he will, and for as long
As joy may listen; but ~he~ sees no gate,
Save one whereat the spent clay waits a little
Before the churchyard has it, and the worm.
Not long ago, late in an afternoon,
I came on him unseen down Lambeth way,
And on my life I was afear'd of him:
He gloomed and mumbled like a soul from Tophet,
His hands behind him and his head bent solemn.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Maitre Cornelius by Honore de Balzac: populace kept increasing, and seemed the precursors of a riot. From
early morning the news of the robbery had spread through the town. On
all sides the "apprentice," said to be young and handsome, had
awakened public sympathy, and revived the hatred felt against
Cornelius; so that there was not a young man in the town, nor a young
woman with a fresh face and pretty feet to exhibit, who was not
determined to see the victim. When Georges issued from the house, led
by one of the provost's guard, who, after he had mounted his horse,
kept the strong leathern thong that bound the prisoner tightly twisted
round his arm, a horrible uproar arose. Whether the populace merely
wished to see this new victim, or whether it intended to rescue him,
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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 Silverado Squatters by Robert Louis Stevenson: a hayfield. Russel, a drunken Scotch carpenter, was even an
acquaintance of his own, and he expressed much grave
commiseration for his fate. In all that he said and did,
Rufe was grave. I never saw him hurried. When he spoke, he
took out his pipe with ceremonial deliberation, looked east
and west, and then, in quiet tones and few words, stated his
business or told his story. His gait was to match; it would
never have surprised you if, at any step, he had turned round
and walked away again, so warily and slowly, and with so much
seeming hesitation did he go about. He lay long in bed in
the morning - rarely indeed, rose before noon; he loved all
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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 1492 by Mary Johntson: earth. Light, space-giving, easy of removal, these beds
greatly took our fancy.
Here we sought determinedly for spice-giving trees and
medicinal herbs and roots. It was not a spicery such as
Europe depended upon, but still certain things seemed valuable!
We gathered here and gathered there what might
be taken to Spain. There grew an emulation to find. The
Admiral offered prizes for such and such a commodity
come upon.
We sailed from Isabella and after three days came to
Cuba.
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