Today's Stichomancy for Meyer Lansky

The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Paradise Lost by John Milton:

Yet not of will in him, but grace in me Freely vouchsaf'd; once more I will renew His lapsed powers, though forfeit; and enthrall'd By sin to foul exorbitant desires; Upheld by me, yet once more he shall stand On even ground against his mortal foe; By me upheld, that he may know how frail His fallen condition is, and to me owe All his deliverance, and to none but me. Some I have chosen of peculiar grace, Elect above the rest; so is my will:

Paradise Lost

The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from King James Bible:

delight my soul.

PSA 94:20 Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law?

PSA 94:21 They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood.

PSA 94:22 But the LORD is my defence; and my God is the rock of my refuge.

PSA 94:23 And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness; yea, the LORD our God shall cut them off.

PSA 95:1 O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise

King James Bible

The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Manon Lescaut by Abbe Prevost:

my mistress. I told him that such a proceeding might by its publicity be attended with danger to Manon and to me. `Let us risk our lives,' said I, `only as a last resource. My plan is of a more peaceful nature, and promising at least equal success.' He entered without a murmur into all that I proposed; so again stating that all I required was, that he should send for G---- M----, and contrive to keep him an hour or two from home, we at once set about our operations.

"We first of all considered what expedient we could make use of for keeping him out so long a time. I proposed that he should write a note dated from a cafe, begging of him to come there as

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 Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne:

"You speak, my friend, with a strange earnestness," said old Roger Chillingworth, smiling at him. "And there is a weighty import in what my young brother hath spoken," added the Rev. Mr. Wilson. 140 THE SCARLET LETTER

The Scarlet Letter