Today's Stichomancy for Sean Connery

The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Divine Comedy (translated by H.F. Cary) by Dante Alighieri:

So far pursued, as till the space between From its reach sever'd them: whereat the guide Celestial, marking me no more intent On upward gazing, said, "Look down and see What circuit thou hast compass'd." From the hour When I before had cast my view beneath, All the first region overpast I saw, Which from the midmost to the bound'ry winds; That onward thence from Gades I beheld The unwise passage of Laertes' son, And hitherward the shore, where thou, Europa!

The Divine Comedy (translated by H.F. Cary)

The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Charmides and Other Poems by Oscar Wilde:

Threaded the bosky dell, their satyr spied The boy's pale body stretched upon the sand, And feared Poseidon's treachery, and cried, And like bright sunbeams flitting through a glade Each startled Dryad sought some safe and leafy ambuscade.

Save one white girl, who deemed it would not be So dread a thing to feel a sea-god's arms Crushing her breasts in amorous tyranny, And longed to listen to those subtle charms Insidious lovers weave when they would win Some fenced fortress, and stole back again, nor thought it sin

The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Tanach:

1_Chronicles 19: 6 And when the children of Ammon saw that they had made themselves odious to David, Hanun and the children of Ammon sent a thousand talents of silver to hire them chariots and horsemen out of Aram-naharaim, and out of Aram-maacah, and out of Zobah.

1_Chronicles 19: 7 So they hired them thirty and two thousand chariots, and the king of Maacah and his people; who came and encamped before Medeba. And the children of Ammon gathered themselves together from their cities, and came to battle.

1_Chronicles 19: 8 And when David heard of it, he sent Joab, and all the host of the mighty men.

1_Chronicles 19: 9 And the children of Ammon came out and put the battle in array at the gate of the city; and the kings that were come were by themselves in the field.

1_Chronicles 19: 10 Now when Joab saw that the battle was set against him before and behind, he chose of all the choice men of Israel, and put them in array against the Arameans.

1_Chronicles 19: 11 And the rest of the people he committed into the hand of Abishai his brother, and they put themselves in array against the children of Ammon.

1_Chronicles 19: 12 And he said: 'If the Arameans be too strong for me, then thou shalt help me; but if the children of Ammon be too strong for thee, then I will help thee.

1_Chronicles 19: 13 Be of good courage, and let us prove strong for our people, and for the cities of our God; and the LORD do that which seemeth Him good.'

1_Chronicles 19: 14 So Joab and the people that were with him drew nigh unto the battle to meet the Arameans; and they fled before him.

The Tanach

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 Enemies of Books by William Blades:

and rear a brood of worms. Anyone, indeed, who has seen a hole in a filbert, or a piece of wood riddled by dry rot, will recognize a similarity of appearance in the channels made by these insect enemies.

Among the paper-eating species are:--

1. The "Anobium." Of this beetle there are varieties, viz.: "A. pertinax," "A. eruditus," and "A. paniceum." In the larval state they are grubs, just like those found, in nuts; in this stage they are too much alike to be distinguished from one another. They feed on old dry wood, and often infest bookcases and shelves. They eat the wooden boards of old books, and so pass into the paper