Today's Stichomancy for Leonardo da Vinci
| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Russia in 1919 by Arthur Ransome: heroism in playing in such cold. Now and then during the
evening I was unusually conscious of the unreality of opera
generally, perhaps because of the contrast in magnificence
between the stage and the shabby, intelligent audience. Now
and then, on the other hand, stage and audience seemed one
and indivisible. For "Samson and Delilah" is itself a poem
of revolution, and gained enormously by being played by
people every one of whom had seen something of the sort in
real life. Samson's stirring up of the Israelites reminded me
of many scenes in Petrograd in 1917, and when, at last, he
brings the temple down in ruins on his triumphant enemies, I
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Persuasion by Jane Austen: so easy, so particularly agreeable, that she could compare them
in excellence to only one person's manners. They were not the same,
but they were, perhaps, equally good.
He sat down with them, and improved their conversation very much.
There could be no doubt of his being a sensible man. Ten minutes
were enough to certify that. His tone, his expressions,
his choice of subject, his knowing where to stop; it was all
the operation of a sensible, discerning mind. As soon as he could,
he began to talk to her of Lyme, wanting to compare opinions
respecting the place, but especially wanting to speak of the circumstance
of their happening to be guests in the same inn at the same time;
Persuasion |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Silverado Squatters by Robert Louis Stevenson: like a man, that, nohow. But I got even with him: I pisoned
HIS dog." His clumsy utterance, his rude embarrassed manner,
set a fresh value on the stupidity of his remarks. I do not
think I ever appreciated the meaning of two words until I
knew Irvine - the verb, loaf, and the noun, oaf; between
them, they complete his portrait. He could lounge, and
wriggle, and rub himself against the wall, and grin, and be
more in everybody's way than any other two people that I ever
set my eyes on. Nothing that he did became him; and yet you
were conscious that he was one of your own race, that his
mind was cumbrously at work, revolving the problem of
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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 Symposium by Plato: will admit); and I am conscious that if I did not shut my ears against him,
and fly as from the voice of the siren, my fate would be like that of
others,--he would transfix me, and I should grow old sitting at his feet.
For he makes me confess that I ought not to live as I do, neglecting the
wants of my own soul, and busying myself with the concerns of the
Athenians; therefore I hold my ears and tear myself away from him. And he
is the only person who ever made me ashamed, which you might think not to
be in my nature, and there is no one else who does the same. For I know
that I cannot answer him or say that I ought not to do as he bids, but when
I leave his presence the love of popularity gets the better of me. And
therefore I run away and fly from him, and when I see him I am ashamed of
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