Today's Stichomancy for Ken Nordine
| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Tanglewood Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne: along that way, and saw Cilix's habitation, and were greatly
delighted with the appearance of the place. There being
abundance of unoccupied ground in the neighborhood, these
strangers built huts for themselves, and were soon joined by a
multitude of new settlers, who quickly formed a city. In the
middle of it was seen a magnificent palace of colored marble,
on the balcony of which, every noontide, appeared Cilix, in a
long purple robe, and with a jeweled crown upon his head; for
the inhabitants, when they found out that he was a king's son,
had considered him the fittest of all men to be a king himself.
One of the first acts of King Cilix's government was to send
Tanglewood Tales |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Blix by Frank Norris: their imaginations thronging with pictures of vigorous action and
adventure, buccaneering, filibustering, and all the swing, the
leap, the rush and gallop, the exuberant, strong life of the
great, uncharted world of Romance.
And all unknowingly they were a Romance in themselves. Cynicism,
old age, and the weariness of all things done had no place in the
world in which they walked. They still had their illusions, all
the keenness of their sensations, all the vividness of their
impressions. The simple things of the world, the great, broad,
primal emotions of the race stirred in them. As they swung along,
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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 Little Britain by Washington Irving: and criticised every one that knocked at the door.
This dance was a cause of almost open war, and the whole
neighborhood declared they would have nothing more to say to
the Lambs. It is true that Mrs. Lamb, when she had no
engagements with her quality acquaintance, would give little
humdrum tea-junketings to some of her old cronies, "quite," as
she would say, "in a friendly way;" and it is equally true that
her invitations were always accepted, in spite of all previous
vows to the contrary. Nay, the good ladies would sit and be
delighted with the music of the Miss Lambs, who would
condescend to strum an Irish melody for them on the piano;
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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 The Life of the Spider by J. Henri Fabre: concern herself, so seldom do they occur.
Another detail attracts our attention: whereas the interior of the
house is exquisitely clean, the outside is covered with dirt, bits
of earth, chips of rotten wood, little pieces of gravel. Often
there are worse things still: the exterior of the tent becomes a
charnel-house. Here, hung up or embedded, are the dry carcasses of
Opatra, Asidae and other Tenebrionidae {39} that favour underrock
shelters; segments of Iuli, {40} bleached by the sun; shells of
Pupae, {41} common among the stones; and, lastly, Snail-shells,
selected from among the smallest.
These relics are obviously, for the most part, table-leavings,
The Life of the Spider |
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