Today's Stichomancy for Leon Trotsky
| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Parmenides by Plato: rather the opposite of that which Socrates implies: There is no
contradiction in the concrete, but in the abstract; and the more abstract
the idea, the more palpable will be the contradiction. For just as nothing
can persuade us that the number one is the number three, so neither can we
be persuaded that any abstract idea is identical with its opposite,
although they may both inhere together in some external object, or some
more comprehensive conception. Ideas, persons, things may be one in one
sense and many in another, and may have various degrees of unity and
plurality. But in whatever sense and in whatever degree they are one they
cease to be many; and in whatever degree or sense they are many they cease
to be one.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass: hammer; and the wide gulf which separated the free colored people
from the Garrisonians, also separated them from their brother,
Frederick Douglass.
The arduous nature of his labors, from the date of the
establishment of his paper, may be estimated by the fact, that
anti-slavery papers in the United States, even while organs of,
and when supported by, anti-slavery parties, have, with a single
exception, failed to pay expenses. Mr. Douglass has maintained,
and does maintain, his paper without the support of any party,
and even in the teeth of the opposition of those from whom he had
reason to expect counsel and encouragement. He has been
 My Bondage and My Freedom |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Kenilworth by Walter Scott: entreated him to persuade her to take some little potion by his
direction, and they would fetch the same at Oxford; meaning to
have added something of their own for her comfort, as the doctor
upon just cause and consideration did suspect, seeing their great
importunity, and the small need the lady had of physic, and
therefore he peremptorily denied their request; misdoubting (as
he afterwards reported) lest, if they had poisoned her under the
name of his potion, he might after have been hanged for a colour
of their sin, and the doctor remained still well assured that
this way taking no effect, she would not long escape their
violence, which afterwards happened thus. For Sir Richard Varney
 Kenilworth |
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 Heroes by Charles Kingsley: Therefore it was that all men honoured him, because he rid
them of their miseries, and made life pleasant to them and
their children after them. Where can I go, to do as Heracles
has done? Where can I find strange adventures, robbers, and
monsters, and the children of hell, the enemies of men? I
will go by land, and into the mountains, and round by the way
of the Isthmus. Perhaps there I may hear of brave
adventures, and do something which shall win my father's
love.'
So he went by land, and away into the mountains, with his
father's sword upon his thigh, till he came to the Spider
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