Today's Stichomancy for Alfred Hitchcock

The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy:

the little child. She idly watched him as he occasionally climbed up in the nook of the bank and stood beside the brands. The wind blew the smoke, and the child's hair, and the corner of his pinafore, all in the same direction; the breeze died, and the pinafore and hair lay still, and the smoke went up straight.

While Eustacia looked on from this distance the boy's form visibly started--he slid down the bank and ran across towards the white gate.

"Well?" said Eustacia.

"A hopfrog have jumped into the pond. Yes, I heard 'en!"

Return of the Native

The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Pagan and Christian Creeds by Edward Carpenter:

everyone.

Anyhow, and as a matter of fact, the world-wide dissemination of the legend is most remarkable. Zeus, Father of the gods, visited Semele, it will be remembered, in the form of a thunderstorm; and she gave birth to the great saviour and deliverer Dionysus. Zeus, again, impregnated Danae in a shower of gold; and the child was Perseus, who slew the Gorgons (the powers of darkness) and saved Andromeda (the human soul[1]). Devaki, the radiant Virgin of the Hindu mythology, became the wife of the god Vishnu and bore Krishna, the beloved hero and prototype

Pagan and Christian Creeds

The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Art of War by Sun Tzu:

sign of chariots advancing; when the dust is low, but spread over a wide area, it betokens the approach of infantry.

["High and sharp," or rising to a peak, is of course somewhat exaggerated as applied to dust. The commentators explain the phenomenon by saying that horses and chariots, being heavier than men, raise more dust, and also follow one another in the same wheel-track, whereas foot-soldiers would be marching in ranks, many abreast. According to Chang Yu, "every army on the march must have scouts some way in advance, who on sighting dust raised by the enemy, will gallop back and report it to the commander-in-chief." Cf. Gen. Baden-Powell: "As you move along,

The Art of War

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 Tanach:

Job 40: 17 He straineth his tail like a cedar; the sinews of his thighs are knit together.

Job 40: 18 His bones are as pipes of brass; his gristles are like bars of iron.

Job 40: 19 He is the beginning of the ways of God; He only that made him can make His sword to approach unto him.

Job 40: 20 Surely the mountains bring him forth food, and all the beasts of the field play there.

Job 40: 21 He lieth under the lotus-trees, in the covert of the reed, and fens.

Job 40: 22 The lotus-trees cover him with their shadow; the willows of the brook compass him about.

Job 40: 23 Behold, if a river overflow, he trembleth not; he is confident, though the Jordan rush forth to his mouth.

Job 40: 24 Shall any take him by his eyes, or pierce through his nose with a snare?

Job 41: 1 (40:25) Canst thou draw out leviathan with a fish-hook? or press down his tongue with a cord?

Job 41: 2 (40:26) Canst thou put a ring into his nose? or bore his jaw through with a hook?

Job 41: 3 (40:27) Will he make many supplications unto thee? or will he speak soft words unto thee?

The Tanach