Today's Stichomancy for Robin Williams

The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James:

return to it. In it arise whatever mystical experiences we may have, and our automatisms, sensory or motor; our life in hypnotic and "hypnoid" conditions, if we are subjects to such conditions; our delusions, fixed ideas, and hysterical accidents, if we are hysteric subjects; our supra-normal cognitions, if such there be, and if we are telepathic subjects. It is also the fountain-head of much that feeds our religion. In persons deep in the religious life, as we have now abundantly seen--and this is my conclusion--the door into this region seems unusually wide open; at any rate, experiences making their entrance through that door have had emphatic influence in shaping religious history.

The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Tanach:

Proverbs 27: 21 The refining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold, and a man is tried by his praise.

Proverbs 27: 22 Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar with a pestle among groats, yet will not his foolishness depart from him.

Proverbs 27: 23 Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds;

Proverbs 27: 24 For riches are not for ever; and doth the crown endure unto all generations?

Proverbs 27: 25 When the hay is mown, and the tender grass showeth itself, and the herbs of the mountains are gathered in;

Proverbs 27: 26 The lambs will be for thy clothing, and the goats the price for a field.

Proverbs 27: 27 And there will be goats' milk enough for thy food, for the food of thy household; and maintenance for thy maidens.

Proverbs 28: 1 The wicked flee when no man pursueth; but the righteous are secure as a young lion.

Proverbs 28: 2 For the transgression of a land many are the princes thereof; but by a man of understanding and knowledge established order shall long continue.

Proverbs 28: 3 A poor man that oppresseth the weak is like a sweeping rain which leaveth no food.

Proverbs 28: 4 They that forsake the law praise the wicked; but such as keep the law contend with them.

The Tanach

The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain:

sweep and surveyed the result, as before. Ben ranged up alongside of him. Tom's mouth watered for the apple, but he stuck to his work. Ben said:

"Hello, old chap, you got to work, hey?"

Tom wheeled suddenly and said:

"Why, it's you, Ben! I warn't noticing."

"Say -- I'm going in a-swimming, I am. Don't you wish you could? But of course you'd druther WORK -- wouldn't you? Course you would!"

Tom contemplated the boy a bit, and said:

"What do you call work?"

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

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 Ebb-Tide by Stevenson & Osbourne:

left tete-a-tete. A glass of wine with you, Mr Whish!'

Chapter 10. THE OPEN DOOR

The captain and Herrick meanwhile turned their back upon the lights in Attwater's verandah, and took a direction towards the pier and the beach of the lagoon.

The isle, at this hour, with its smooth floor of sand, the pillared roof overhead, and the prevalent illumination of the lamps, wore an air of unreality like a deserted theatre or a public garden at midnight. A man looked about him for the statues and tables. Not the least air of wind was stirring among the palms, and the silence was emphasised by the continuous