Today's Stichomancy for Steve McQueen
| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce: censorious critics of this dictionary.
IMMIGRANT, n. An unenlightened person who thinks one country better
than another.
IMMODEST, adj. Having a strong sense of one's own merit, coupled with
a feeble conception of worth in others.
There was once a man in Ispahan
Ever and ever so long ago,
And he had a head, the phrenologists said,
That fitted him for a show.
For his modesty's bump was so large a lump
(Nature, they said, had taken a freak)
The Devil's Dictionary |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Common Sense by Thomas Paine: to comply with, neither will she propose it; but if it were,
and even should be granted, I ask, as a reasonable question,
By what means is such a corrupt and faithless court to be kept
to its engagements? Another parliament, nay, even the present,
may hereafter repeal the obligation, on the pretense,
of its being violently obtained, or unwisely granted;
and in that case, Where is our redress?--No going to law
with nations; cannon are the barristers of Crowns;
and the sword, not of justice, but of war, decides the suit.
To be on the footing of sixty-three, it is not sufficient,
that the laws only be put on the same state, but, that our circumstances,
Common Sense |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from La Grande Breteche by Honore de Balzac: at Merret. Have you been to Merret, monsieur?--No,' said he, answering
himself, 'Ah, it is a very fine place.'
" 'For about three months previously,' he went on, with a jerk of his
head, 'the Count and Countess had lived in a very eccentric way; they
admitted no visitors; Madame lived on the ground-floor, and Monsieur
on the first floor. When the Countess was left alone, she was never
seen excepting at church. Subsequently, at home, at the chateau, she
refused to see the friends, whether gentlemen or ladies, who went to
call on her. She was already very much altered when she left la Grande
Breteche to go to Merret. That dear lady--I say dear lady, for it was
she who gave me this diamond, but indeed I saw her but once--that kind
La Grande Breteche |
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 Moran of the Lady Letty by Frank Norris: the glass. Wilbur looked long and carefully. The newcomer was of
the size and much the same shape as a caravel of the fifteenth
century--high as to bow and stern, and to all appearances as
seaworthy as a soup-tureen. Never but in the old prints had
Wilbur seen such an extraordinary boat. She carried a single
mast, which listed forward; her lugsail was stretched upon dozens
of bamboo yards; she drew hardly any water. Two enormous red eyes
were painted upon either side of her high, blunt bow, while just
abaft the waist projected an enormous oar, or sweep, full forty
feet in length--longer, in fact, than the vessel herself. It
acted partly as a propeller, partly as a rudder.
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