Today's Stichomancy for Pablo Picasso
| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Collected Articles by Frederick Douglass: The man behind the counter looked rather sharply at me, and said with
equal sharpness, "You don't belong about here." I was alarmed,
and thought I had betrayed myself. A fip in Maryland was
six and a quarter cents, called fourpence in Massachusetts.
But no harm came from the "fi'penny-bit" blunder, and I confidently
and cheerfully went to work with my saw and buck. It was new business to me,
but I never did better work, or more of it, in the same space of time
on the plantation for Covey, the negro-breaker, than I did for myself
in these earliest years of my freedom.
Notwithstanding the just and humane sentiment of New Bedford
three and forty years ago, the place was not entirely free from
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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 Life of the Spider by J. Henri Fabre: This being so, her poison would have to possess unparalleled
virulence to produce a corpse-like inertia no matter which the
point attacked. I can scarcely believe in instantaneous death
resulting from the bite, especially in the case of insects, with
their highly-resistant organisms.
Besides, is it really a corpse that the Epeira wants, she who feeds
on blood much more than on flesh? It were to her advantage to suck
a live body, wherein the flow of the liquids, set in movement by
the pulsation of the dorsal vessel, that rudimentary heart of
insects, must act more freely than in a lifeless body, with its
stagnant fluids. The game which the Spider means to suck dry might
The Life of the Spider |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A treatise on Good Works by Dr. Martin Luther: they have, and believe that God of His mercy appoints their
sufferings and difficulties for them, whether they be small or
great. This is real strength, to trust in God when to all our
senses and reason He appears to be angry; and to have greater
confidence in Him than we feel. Here He is hidden, as the bride
says in the Song of Songs: "Behold he standeth behind our wall,
he looketh forth at the windows"; that is, He stands hidden among
the sufferings, which would separate us from Him like a wall,
yea, like a wall of stone, and yet He looks upon me and does not
leave me, for He is standing and is ready graciously to help, and
through the window of dim faith He permits Himself to be seen.
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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 Ancient Regime by Charles Kingsley: and capricious folly, either from above or from below. As long as
the press is free, a nation is guaranteed against the worse evil of
persistent and obstinate folly, cloaking itself under the venerable
shapes of tradition and authority. For under a free press, a nation
must ultimately be guided not by a caste, not by a class, not by
mere wealth, not by the passions of a mob: but by mind; by the net
result of all the common-sense of its members; and in the present
default of genius, which is un-common sense, common-sense seems to
be the only, if not the best, safeguard for poor humanity.
1867
LECTURE I--CASTE
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