Today's Stichomancy for George Armstrong Custer

The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad:

A little later I moved away from the rail to look at the compass with such a stealthy gait that the helmsman noticed it-- and I could not help noticing the unusual roundness of his eyes. These are trifling instances, though it's to no commander's advantage to be suspected of ludicrous eccentricities. But I was also more seriously affected. There are to a seaman certain words, gestures, that should in given conditions come as naturally, as instinctively as the winking of a menaced eye. A certain order should spring on to his lips without thinking; a certain sign should get itself made, so to speak, without reflection. But all unconscious alertness had abandoned me.

The Secret Sharer

The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Several Works by Edgar Allan Poe:

had come like a thief in the night. And one by one dropped the revellers in the blood-bedewed halls of their revel, and died each in the despairing posture of his fall. And the life of the ebony clock went out with that of the last of the gay. And the flames of the tripods expired. And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all.

The Cask of Amontillado

by Edgar Allan Poe

October, 1997 [Etext #1065]*

The Cask of Amontillado

The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best

The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The House of Dust by Conrad Aiken:

To lean from certain windows, vainly hoping, Passionate still for beauty, remembered spring. You did not know how long she clung to music, You did not hear her sing.

Did she, then, make the choice, and step out bravely From sound to silence--close, herself, those windows? Or was it true, instead, That darkness moved,--for once,--and so possessed her? . . . We'll never know, you say, for she is dead.

VII. PORCELAIN

You see that porcelain ranged there in the window--

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 In Darkest England and The Way Out by General William Booth:

from perishing. Our people have found situations for no fewer than 1,776 persons, and are dispensing meals at the rate of 700 a day. The Government of Victoria has long been taking the lead in recognising the secular uses of the Salvation Army. The following letter addressed by the Minister of the Interior to the Officer charged with the oversight of this part of our operations, indicates the estimation in which we are held: --

Government of Victoria, Chief Secretary's Office, Melbourne.

July 4th, 1889.

Superintendent Salvation Army Rescue Work.

In Darkest England and The Way Out