Today's Stichomancy for Woody Allen

The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Tanach:

2_Chronicles 18: 3 And Ahab king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat king of Judah: 'Wilt thou go with me to Ramoth-gilead?' And he answered him: 'I am as thou art, and my people as thy people; and we will be with thee in the war.'

2_Chronicles 18: 4 And Jehoshaphat said unto the king of Israel: 'Inquire, I pray thee, at the word of the LORD today.'

2_Chronicles 18: 5 Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, four hundred men, and said unto them: 'Shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I forbear?' And they said: 'Go up; for God will deliver it into the hand of the king.'

2_Chronicles 18: 6 But Jehoshaphat said: 'Is there not here besides a prophet of the LORD, that we might inquire of him?'

2_Chronicles 18: 7 And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat: 'There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the LORD; but I hate him; for he never prophesieth good concerning me, but always evil; the same is Micaiah the son of Imla.' And Jehoshaphat said: 'Let not the king say so.'

2_Chronicles 18: 8 Then the king of Israel called an officer, and said: 'Fetch quickly Micaiah the son of Imla.'

2_Chronicles 18: 9 Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah sat each on his throne, arrayed in their robes, and they sat in a threshing-floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets were prophesying before them.

The Tanach

The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Altar of the Dead by Henry James:

More and more, besides, face to face with his little legion, over endless histories, handling the empty shells and playing with the silence - more and more he could see that he had never introduced an alien. He had had his great companions, his indulgences - there were cases in which they had been immense; but what had his devotion after all been if it hadn't been at bottom a respect? He was, however, himself surprised at his stiffness; by the end of the winter the responsibility of it was what was uppermost in his thoughts. The refrain had grown old to them, that plea for just one more. There came a day when, for simple exhaustion, if symmetry should demand just one he was ready so far to meet

The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Vendetta by Honore de Balzac:

remained motionless, and as if stupefied, "we have no longer a daughter; she wishes to marry."

The old man sat down, after raising his hands to heaven with a gesture of invoking the Divine power; then he bowed himself over as if weighed down with sorrow.

Ginevra saw his agitation, and the restraint which he put upon his anger touched her to the heart; she expected some violent crisis, some ungovernable fury; she had not armed her soul against paternal gentleness.

"Father," she said, in a tender voice, "no, you shall never be abandoned by your Ginevra. But love her a little for her own sake. If

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 Helen of Troy And Other Poems by Sara Teasdale:

Here in my quiet chamber, with his eyes Fixed on me as I entered, while he drew Silently toward me -- he who night by night Goes by my door without a thought of me -- Neared me and put his hand behind my head, And leaning toward me, kissed me on the mouth. That was a little dream for Death to give, Too short to take the whole of life for, yet I woke with lips made quiet by a kiss. The dream is worth the dying. Do not smile So sadly on me with your shining eyes,