Today's Stichomancy for Nicky Hilton
| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare: Tranio, I burn, I pine, I perish, Tranio,
If I achieve not this young modest girl.
Counsel me, Tranio, for I know thou canst:
Assist me, Tranio, for I know thou wilt.
TRANIO.
Master, it is no time to chide you now;
Affection is not rated from the heart:
If love have touch'd you, nought remains but so:
Redime te captum quam queas minimo.
LUCENTIO.
Gramercies, lad; go forward; this contents;
The Taming of the Shrew |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The House of Dust by Conrad Aiken: The earth has veins: they throb to-night,
The earth swells warm beneath my feet,
The tips of the trees grow red and bright,
The leaves are swollen, I feel them beat,
They press together, they push and sigh,
They listen to hear the great bat cry,
The great red bat with the woman's face . . .
Hurry! he said. And pace for pace
That other, who trod the dark with him,
Crushed the live leaves, reached out white hands
And closed her eyes, the better to see
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Letters of Two Brides by Honore de Balzac: Then the upper classes will be submerged; equality of desire will be
taken for equality of strength; true distinction, even when proved and
recognized, will be threatened by the advancing tide of middle-class
prejudice. It was possible to choose one man out of a thousand, but,
amongst three millions, discrimination becomes impossible, when all
are moved by the same ambitions and attired in the same livery of
mediocrity. No foresight will warn this victorious horde of that other
terrible horde, soon to be arrayed against them in the peasant
proprietors; in other words, twenty million acres of land, alive,
stirring, arguing, deaf to reason, insatiable of appetite, obstructing
progress, masters in their brute force----"
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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 Malbone: An Oldport Romance by Thomas Wentworth Higginson: knees, when loosened, or else lay coiled, in munificent braids
of gold, full of sparkling lights and contrasted shadows, upon
her queenly head.
Her eyes were much darker than her hair, and had a way of
opening naively and suddenly, with a perfectly infantine
expression, as if she at that moment saw the sunlight for the
first time. Her long lashes were somewhat like Emilia's, and
she had the same deeply curved eyebrows; in no other point was
there a shade of resemblance between the half-sisters. As
compared with Kate, Hope showed a more abundant physical life;
there was more blood in her; she had ampler outlines, and
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