Today's Stichomancy for Edward Norton

The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from At the Mountains of Madness by H. P. Lovecraft:

There are those who will say Danforth and I were utterly mad not to flee for our lives after that; since our conclusions were now - notwithstanding their wildness - completely fixed, and of a nature I need not even mention to those who have read my account as far as this. Perhaps we were mad - for have I not said those horrible peaks were mountains of madness? But I think I can detect something of the same spirit - albeit in a less extreme form - in the men who stalk deadly beasts through African jungles to photograph them or study their habits. Half paralyzed with terror though we were, there was nevertheless fanned within us a blazing flame of awe and curiosity which triumphed in the end.

At the Mountains of Madness

The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from New Poems by Robert Louis Stevenson:

Forth leaps the laughing girl at last.

THE BOUR-TREE DEN

CLINKUM-CLANK in the rain they ride, Down by the braes and the grey sea-side; Clinkum-clank by stane and cairn, Weary fa' their horse-shoe-airn!

Loud on the causey, saft on the sand, Round they rade by the tail of the land; Round and up by the Bour-Tree Den, Weary fa' the red-coat men!

Aft hae I gane where they hae rade

The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Hero of Our Time by M.Y. Lermontov:

the gate a wide square spread out; behind it the bazaar was seething with people, the day being Sunday. Barefooted Ossete boys, carrying wallets of honeycomb on their shoulders, were hovering around me. I cursed them; I had other things to think of -- I was beginning to share the worthy staff-captain's uneasiness.

Before ten minutes had passed the man we were awaiting appeared at the end of the square. He was walking with Colonel N., who accom- panied him as far as the inn, said good-bye to him,

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 The Memorabilia by Xenophon:

headship combined with virtue is an old time-honoured heritage which pertains to them beyond all others, and that if they strive earnestly after it they will soon out-top the world.

[9] Cf. Solon in the matter of Salamis, Plut. "Sol." 8; Bergk. "Poet. Lyr. Gr. Solon," SALAMIS, i. 2, 3.

Por. How are we to inculcate this lesson?

Soc. I think by reminding them of a fact already registered in their minds,[10] that the oldest of our ancestors whose names are known to us were also the bravest of heroes.

[10] Or, "to which their ears are already opened."

Per. I suppose you refer to that judgment of the gods which, for their

The Memorabilia