(Redirected from Fortune telling)
'Fortune-telling' is the practice of predicting the future, usually of an individual, through mystical or supernatural means and often for commercial gain. It often conflates with the
religious practice known as
divination.
European and Euro-American fortune telling
In Europe and the Americas fortune-telling has not been well-respected for the past several centuries. There have been religious proscriptions against it, as well as civil laws passed that forbid the practice. For these reasons, many mainstream urban Europeans and Americans are unaware of how popular fortune-telling remains with the public and are surpised when they learn of a celebrity or politician who consults a fortune-teller for the purpose of making decisions.
Methods
Common methods used for fortune telling in Europe and the Americas include
astromancy,
horary astrology,
pendulum reading,
spirit board reading,
tasseography (reading tea leaves in a cup),
cartomancy (fortune telling with cards),
tarot card reading,
crystallomancy (reading of a crystal sphere), and
cheiromancy (palmistry, reading of the palms). The latter three have traditional associations in the popular mind with the
Roma and
Sinti people (often called "gypsies").
Another form of fortune-telling, sometimes called "reading" or "spiritual consultation" does not rely on the use of specific devices or methods, but consists of the practitioner transmitting to the client advice and predictions which are said to have come from spirits or in visions. This form of fortune-telling is particularly popular in the
African-American community.
Typical topics that Western fortune-tellers make predictions on include future romantic, financial, and childbearing prospects. They may also be called upon to aid in decision-making regarding job opportunities, the outcome of illnesses, and plans for marriage or divorce.
In addition to divining the future, many fortune-tellers will also give "character readings." These are short analyses of the character of a person and do not necessarily involve specific preditions about future events. Methods used in character analysis readings include
numerology,
graphology,
palmistry (if the subject is present), and
astrology. The subject of a character reading may be the client, who seeks self-knowledge, but it is quite common for the fortune-teller to perform a character reading on the client's prospective mate. In the latter case, when a third party is being assessed for marital compatibility with the client, an element of fore-telling does occur, as the practitioner explores the future of the relationship based on the characters of the two parties.
Sociology
In contemporary
Western culture, it appears that women consult fortune-tellers more than men: some indication of this comes from the profusion of advertisements for commercial fortune-telling services in magazines aimed at women, while such advertisements appear virtually unknown in magazines aimed specifically at men. Likewise, more women than men practice fortune-telling as a vocation.
It is quite common for young women to seek out fortune tellers as they embark on adulthood, and many women maintain decades-long relationships with their personal readers or fortune-tellers. Telephone consultations with
psychics (charged to the caller's telephone account at very high rates) grew in popularity through the 1990s but they have not replaced - and may never replace - the traditional card readers, tea leaf readers, palmists, and spiritual readers who see their clients in small storefronts or
occult shops.
Asian fortune telling
Chinese Fortune Telling better known as (Chinese: 算命, suan ming) has utilized many varying
divination techniques throughout the
dynastic periods. There are four major methods still in practice in
China,
Taiwan and
Hong Kong today, and they remain in use due to their accuracy and popularity. Over time, some of these concepts have moved into
Korean and
Japanese culture under other names. For example ''"Saju"'' in Korea is the same as the Chinese
four pillar method.
Methods
# '''Face reading''' - This is the interpretation of facial features of the nose, eyes, mouth and other criteria within one's face and the conversion of those criteria into predictions for the future. This usually covers one phase of the client's life, and reveals the type of luck associated with a certain age range.
# '''
Palm reading''' - This analyzes the positioning of palm lines for love, personality, and other traits. It somewhat resembles Western
palmistry in technique.
# '''
Kau Cim''' - This requires the shaking of a
bamboo cylinder, which results in at least one modified
incense stick leaving the cylinder. The
Chinese characters inscribed on the stick are analyzed by an interpreter. The prediction is short range, as it covers one
Chinese calendar year. In the West, this method has been popularized under the trade-name "Chi-Chi sticks."
# '''
Zi wei dou shu''' - This procedure, sometimes loosely called (Chinese: 劈命, pik meng), involves the client seeking an advisor with a mastery of the
Chinese calendar.
Astrology is used in combination with the
Chinese constellation,
four pillars of destiny and the
five elements methods of divination. The end result is a translation of one's destiny path, an interpretation of a pre-determined fate. The result of the details vary depending on the accuracy of the original four pillars information the client provides to the fortune-teller. This method can also verify unique events that have already happened in one's life.
Sociology
In Chinese society, fortune telling is a respected and important part of social and business culture. Thus, fortune tellers often take on a role which is equivalent to
management consultants and
psychotherapists in Western society. As
management consultants, they advise business people on business and investment decisions. Many major business decisions involve the input of fortune tellers. Their social role allows decision risks to be placed outside of the organization and provides a mechanism of quickly randomly deciding between several equally useful options. As
psychotherapists, they help people discuss and resolve personal issues without the stigma of illness.
African fortune telling
Methods
One of the most traditional methods of telling fortunes in Africa is called casting (or throwing) the
bones. Because Africa is a large continent with many tribes and cultures, there is no one single technique. Not all of the "bones" are actually bones, small objects may include
cowrie shells,
stones, strips of
leather, or flat pieces of
wood. In general, most casting or throwing methods are performed on the ground (often within a circle) and they fall into one of two categories:
★ Casting marked bones, flat pieces of wood, shells, or leather strips and numerically counting up how they fall -- either according to their markings or whether they do or do not touch one another -- with mathematically-based readings delivered as memorized results based on the chosen criteria.
★ Casting a special set of symbolic bones or an array of selected symbolic articles -- as, for instance, using a bird's wing bone to symbolize travel, a round stone to symbolize a pregnant womb, and a bird foot to symbolize holding onto something -- and constructing a coherent narrative for the client based on the visual relationship between the symbols.
Sociology
In African society, many people seek out diviners on a regular basis. There are no prohibitions against the practice. Those who tell fortunes for a living are also sought out for their wisdom as counselors and for their knowledge of herbal medicine.
Opposing theories
Those who do not believe that fortune tellers can actually read the future may believe that several other factors explain the popularity and anecdotal accuracy of fortune-telling:
# Fortune-telling in the context of an individual's
belief system has a good chance of being believed.
# A person who performs a divination for himself or herself may be using his or her reactions to the arbitrary stimuli (such as tarot cards or a pendulum) as a way of mentally organizing his or her own thoughts.
# The predictions themselves can cause the subject to alter his or her behaviour in a way that makes the predictions become true, see
self-fulfilling prophecy.
# Predictions can be a source of amusement and diversion.
# Predictions can reduce anxiety about the uncertain future.
# When making a
decision based on incomplete information, the fortune teller or oracle can reduce the anxiety associated with guessing.
# The fotune-teller can be an external source of authority to invoke in support of a decision to be made, or in defense of a decision that was made.
# Fortune-tellers usually exhibit skills at reading people and telling them what they wish to hear (and they may heighten this effect using the technique of "
cold reading").
# Predictions almost always use vague terms and do not lend themselves to
falsification. Therefore, the prediction is never wrong, but a person's ''interpretation'' of it can always be wrong.
#
Confirmation bias predisposes people to look for cases where predictions can be interpreted as accurate more than they look to find inaccurate ones.
# Clients of fortune-telling services may fail to realise that statements made about them might reflect reality, but would equally apply to most other people (for instance, the statement "you fought with your parents sometimes as a teenager" applies to a large majority of people). This is the
Forer effect.
Legality
In the United States, a variety of local and state laws restrict fortune-telling, require the licensing or bonding of fortune-tellers, or make necessary the use of terminology that avoids the term "fortune-teller" in favour of terms such as "spiritual advisor" or "psychic consultant." There are also laws that forbid the practice ouright in certain districts.
For instance, fortune telling is a class B
misdemeanor in the state of
New York. Under New York State law, S 165.35:
:A person is guilty of fortune telling when, for a fee or compensation which he directly or indirectly solicits or receives, he claims or pretends to tell fortunes, or holds himself out as being able, by claimed or pretended use of occult powers, to answer questions or give advice on personal matters or to exorcise, influence or affect evil spirits or curses; except that this section does not apply to a person who engages in the aforedescribed conduct as part of a show or exhibition solely for the purpose of entertainment or amusement. However one should use his intelligence and wisdom while visiting fortune tellers.
[1]
By mentioning that "one should use his intelligence and wisdom while visiting fortune tellers," the law-makers who wrote this statute acknowledged that fortune-tellers do not restrict themselves to "a show or exhibition solely for the purpose of entertainment or amusement" and that people will continue to seek out fortune-tellers even though fortune-tellers operate in violation of the law.
See also
★
Fung shui
★
Bagua
References
1. randi law
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