Today's Stichomancy for Robert A. Heinlein

The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Tanach:

Psalms 78: 63 Fire devoured their young men; and their virgins had no marriage-song.

Psalms 78: 64 Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no lamentation.

Psalms 78: 65 Then the Lord awaked as one asleep, like a mighty man recovering from wine.

Psalms 78: 66 And He smote His adversaries backward; He put upon them a perpetual reproach.

Psalms 78: 67 Moreover He abhorred the tent of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim;

Psalms 78: 68 But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which He loved.

Psalms 78: 69 And He built His sanctuary like the heights, like the earth which He hath founded for ever.

Psalms 78: 70 He chose David also His servant, and took him from the sheepfolds;

Psalms 78: 71 From following the ewes that give suck He brought him, to be shepherd over Jacob His people, and Israel His inheritance.

Psalms 78: 72 So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart; and lead them by the skilfulness of his hands.

Psalms 79: 1 A Psalm of Asaph. O God, the heathen are come into Thine inheritance; they have defiled Thy holy temple; they have made Jerusalem into heaps.

The Tanach

The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from King Henry VI by William Shakespeare:

SUFFOLK. Obscure and lowly swain, King Henry's blood, The honourable blood of Lancaster, Must not be shed by such a jaded groom. Hast thou not kiss'd thy hand and held my stirrup? Bare-headed plodded by my foot-cloth mule And thought thee happy when I shook my head? How often hast thou waited at my cup, Fed from my trencher, kneel'd down at the board, When I have feasted with Queen Margaret? Remember it and let it make thee crest-fallen,

The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from King Henry VI by William Shakespeare:

Enter Mayor.]

MAYOR. O, my good lords, and virtuous Henry, Pity the city of London, pity us! The bishop and the Duke of Gloucester's men, Forbidden late to carry any weapon, Have fill'd their pockets full of pebble stones, And banding themselves in contrary parts Do pelt so fast at one another's pate That many have their giddy brains knock'd out: Our windows are broke down in every street,

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 My Antonia by Willa Cather:

a preacher, I want you to marry me. You must promise to marry us all, and then baptize the babies.'

Norwegian Anna, always dignified, looked at her reprovingly.

`Baptists don't believe in christening babies, do they, Jim?'

I told her I didn't know what they believed, and didn't care, and that I certainly wasn't going to be a preacher.

`That's too bad,' Tiny simpered. She was in a teasing mood. `You'd make such a good one. You're so studious. Maybe you'd like to be a professor. You used to teach Tony, didn't you?'

Antonia broke in. `I've set my heart on Jim being a doctor. You'd be good with sick people, Jim. Your grandmother's trained you up so nice.

My Antonia