Today's Stichomancy for Nick Lachey
| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Four Arthurian Romances by Chretien DeTroyes: had made it with great skill and mastery. (45) One represented
there geometry, how it estimates and measures the extent of the
heavens and the earth, so that nothing is lacking there; and then
the depth and the height, and the width, and the length; then it
estimates, besides, how broad and deep the sea is, and thus
measures the whole world. Such was the work of the first fairy.
And the second devoted her effort to the portrayal of arithmetic,
and she strove hard to represent clearly how it wisely enumerates
the days and the hours of time, and the water of the sea drop by
drop, and then all the sand, and the stars one by one, knowing
well how to tell the truth, and how many leaves there are in the
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas: Ten minutes after, he saw her leave the room again, and lock
it twice.
Boxtel, who saw all this whilst hiding himself on the
landing-place of the staircase above, descended step by step
from his story as Rosa descended from hers; so that, when
she touched with her light foot the lowest step of the
staircase, Boxtel touched with a still lighter hand the lock
of Rosa's chamber.
And in that hand, it must be understood, he held the false
key which opened Rosa's door as easily as did the real one.
And this is why, in the beginning of the chapter, we said
The Black Tulip |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from King Lear by William Shakespeare: With reservation of an hundred knights,
By you to be sustain'd, shall our abode
Make with you by due turns. Only we still retain
The name, and all th' additions to a king. The sway,
Revenue, execution of the rest,
Beloved sons, be yours; which to confirm,
This coronet part betwixt you.
Kent. Royal Lear,
Whom I have ever honour'd as my king,
Lov'd as my father, as my master follow'd,
As my great patron thought on in my prayers-
King Lear |
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 Georgics by Virgil: A sound is heard among the forest-tops;
Long waves come racing shoreward: fast he flies,
With instant pinion sweeping earth and main.
A steed like this or on the mighty course
Of Elis at the goal will sweat, and shower
Red foam-flakes from his mouth, or, kindlier task,
With patient neck support the Belgian car.
Then, broken at last, let swell their burly frame
With fattening corn-mash, for, unbroke, they will
With pride wax wanton, and, when caught, refuse
Tough lash to brook or jagged curb obey.
Georgics |
|
|
