Today's Stichomancy for Steven Spielberg
| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Story of an African Farm by Olive Schreiner: that the glass reflected was a thing of marvelous beauty and tranquillity.
The Grey Dawn crept in over it and saw it lying there.
Had she found what she sought for--something to worship? Had she ceased
from being? Who shall tell us? There is a veil of terrible mist over the
face of the Hereafter.
Chapter 2.XIII. Dreams.
"Tell me what a soul desires, and I will tell you what it is." So runs the
phrase.
"Tell me what a man dreams, and I will tell you what he loves." That also
has its truth.
For, ever from the earliest childhood to the latest age, day by day, and
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Golden Sayings of Epictetus by Epictetus: deliver others from their iniquity--not even Theseus, to deliver
the soil of Attica from its monsters? Purge away thine own, cast
forth thence--from thine own mind, not robbers and monsters, but
Fear, Desire, Envy, Malignity, Avarice, Effeminacy, Intemperance.
And these may not be cast out, except by looking to God alone, by
fixing thy affections on Him only, and by consecrating thyself to
His commands. If thou choosest aught else, with sighs and groans
thou wilt be forced to follow a Might greater than thine own,
ever seeking Tranquillity without, and never able to attain unto
her. For thou seekest her where she is not to be found; and where
she is, there thou seekest her not!
The Golden Sayings of Epictetus |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Lucile by Owen Meredith: And to most of us, ere we go down to the grave,
Life, relenting, accords the good gift we would have;
But, as though by some strange imperfection in fate,
The good gift, when it comes, comes a moment too late.
The Future's great veil our breath fitfully flaps,
And behind it broods ever the mighty Perhaps.
Yet! there's many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip;
But while o'er the brim of life's beaker I dip,
Though the cup may next moment be shatter'd, the wine
Spilt, one deep health I'll pledge, and that health shall be thine,
O being of beauty and bliss! seen and known
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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 The Dynamiter by Robert Louis Stevenson and Fanny Van De Grift Stevenson: netted cupolas of the kitchen quarters; and on a second
visit, this room appeared to greet him with a smiling
countenance. He might as well, he thought, avoid the expense
of lodging: the library, fitted with an iron bedstead which
he had remarked, in one of the upper chambers, would serve
his purpose for the night; while in the dining-room, which
was large, airy, and lightsome, looking on the square and
garden, he might very agreeably pass his days, cook his
meals, and study to bring himself to some proficiency in that
art of painting which he had recently determined to adopt.
It did not take him long to make the change: he had soon
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