Fortune-telling is the practice of predicting A prediction or forecast is a statement about the way things will happen in the future, often but not always based on experience or knowledge. While there is much overlap between prediction and forecast, a prediction may be a statement that some outcome is expected, while a forecast may cover a range of possible outcomes the future or destiny Destiny refers to a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual. It is a concept based on the belief that there is a fixed natural order to the cosmos of a person, often commercially.

The scope of fortune-telling is in principle identical with the practice of divination Divination is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of a standardized process or ritual. Diviners ascertain their interpretations of how a querent should proceed by reading signs, events, or omens, or through alleged contact with a supernatural agency. Divination can be seen as a systematic method with which to organize. The difference is that divination is the term used for predictions considered part of a religious Religion (from O.Fr. religion "religious community," from L. religionem "respect for what is sacred, reverence for the gods," "obligation, the bond between man and the gods" is the belief in and worship of a god or gods, or more in general a set of beliefs explaining the existence of and giving meaning to the universe, ritual, invoking deities or spirits, while the term fortune-telling implies a less serious or formal setting, even one of popular culture Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, specifically Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the late 20th and early 21st century. Heavily, where belief in occult workings behind the prediction is less prominent than the concept of suggestion Suggestion is the psychological process by which one person guides the thoughts, feelings, or behaviour of another. Nineteenth century writers on psychology such as William James used the words "suggest" and "suggestion" in senses close to those they have in common speech—one idea was said to suggest another when it brought, spiritual or practical advisory Advice is a form of relating personal opinions, belief systems, personal values and recommendations about certain situations relayed in some context to another person, group or party often offered as a guide to action and/or conduct. Put a little more simply, an advice message is a recommendation about what might be thought, said, or otherwise or affirmation More specifically an affirmation is a carefully formatted statement that should be repeated to ones self and written down frequently. For an affirmation to be effective, it needs to be present tense, positive, personal and specific. Historically, fortune-telling grows out of folkloristic Folklore consists of culture, including stories, music, dance, legends, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, customs and so forth within a particular population comprising the traditions of that culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The academic and usually reception of Renaissance magic Renaissance humanism saw a resurgence in hermeticism and Neo-Platonic varieties of ceremonial magic. The Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution, on the other hand, saw the rise of scientism, in such forms as the substitution of chemistry for alchemy, the dethronement of the Ptolemaic theory of the universe assumed by astrology, the development, specifically associated with gypsies.

During the 19th and 20th century, methods of divination from non-Western cultures, such as the I Ching The Book of Changes, I Ching , "Yì Jīng" (Pinyin), or Classic of Changes; also called Zhouyi, is one of the oldest of the Chinese classic texts. The book contains a divination system comparable to Western geomancy or the West African Ifá system. In Western cultures and modern East Asia, it is still widely used for this purpose, were also adopted as methods of fortune-telling in western popular culture. An example of divination or fortune-telling as purely an item of pop culture, with little or no vestiges of belief in the occult, would be the Magic 8-Ball The Magic 8-Ball, manufactured by Mattel, is a toy used for fortune-telling or seeking advice. The device was invented in 1946 by Albert Carter, son of a clairvoyant, who marketed and sold the device with Abe Bookman of the Alabe Crafts Company . Although Carter is the inventor, Bookman is often credited for the invention of the device. It is a sold as a toy by Mattel Mattel Inc. is the world's largest toy company based on revenue. The products it produces include Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars, Masters of the Universe, American Girl dolls, board games, and, in the early 1980s, video game consoles. The company's name is derived from Harold "Matt" Matson and Elliot Handler, who founded the, or Paul the Octopus, a cephalopod of the Sea Life Aquarium at Oberhausen Oberhausen is a city on the river Emscher in the Ruhr Area, Germany, located between Duisburg (c. 12 km) and Essen (c. 13 km). The city hosts the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and its Gasometer Oberhausen is an anchor point of the European Route of Industrial Heritage. It is also well known for the Centro, which is the biggest used to predict the outcome of matches played by the German national football team.^[1]

There is some religionist opposition against fortune-telling, specifically in Evangelicalism, based on certain verses of the Old Testament The Old Testament is the collection of books that forms the first of the two-part Christian Biblical canon. The contents of the Old Testament canon vary from church to church, with the Orthodox communion having 51 books: the shared books are those of the shortest canon, that of the major Protestant communions, with 39 books interpreted as prohibiting divination.^[2]

Methods

Common methods used for fortune telling in Europe and the Americas include astromancy Astromancy is a form of fortune-telling/divination derived from the practice of astrology. Astromancy and astrology are often mistaken as synonymous terms; however, astrology focuses on identifying potentials and trends which the subject may choose to either promote or discourage, whereas astromancy contends to predict and influence for definitive, horary astrology Horary astrology is an ancient branch of horoscopic astrology by which an astrologer attempts to answer a question by constructing a horoscope for the exact time at which the question was received and understood by the astrologer. There is disagreement amongst horary astrologers as to whether to use the location of the person who asks the question, pendulum When a pendulum is displaced from its resting equilibrium position, it is subject to a restoring force due to gravity that will accelerate it back toward the equilibrium position. When released, the restoring force combined with the pendulum's mass causes it to oscillate about the equilibrium position, swinging back and forth. The time for one reading, spirit board A Ouija board , from French "oui" and German "ja" also known as a spirit board or talking board, is a flat board marked with letters, numbers, and other symbols, supposedly used to communicate with spirits. It uses a planchette (small heart-shaped piece of wood) or movable indicator to indicate the spirit's message by spelling reading, tasseography Tasseography is a divination or fortune-telling method that interprets patterns in tea leaves, coffee grounds, or wine sediments (reading tea leaves in a cup), cartomancy Cartomancy is fortune-telling or divination using a deck of cards. Forms of cartomancy appeared soon after playing cards were first introduced into Europe in the 14th century. Practitioners of cartomancy are generally known as cartomancers, card readers or, simply, readers.[who?]Some practitioners have claimed that cartomancy's origins date back (fortune telling with cards), tarot reading Tarot reading revolves around the belief that the cards can be used to gain insight into the current and possible future situations of the subject , i.e. cartomancy. Some believe they are guided by a spiritual force, such as Gaia, while others believe the cards help them tap into a collective unconscious or their own creative, brainstorming, crystallomancy Crystal gazing is a form of divination or scrying achieved through trance induction by means of gazing at a crystal. It is also known as crystallomancy, gastromancy, and spheromancy (reading of a crystal sphere), lithomancy Lithomancy is a form of divination using crystals, gems or stones, and is sometimes referred to as 'reading stones' and/or 'divination by stone.' "Lithos" is the Greek word for stone, and "mancy" is the Greek suffix for "divination, prophecy, and to interpret signs so practical decisions can be made." There are many (reading of stones or gems), and chiromancy Palmistry or chiromancy (also spelled cheiromancy, Greek cheir , “hand”; manteia (μαντεία), “divination”), is the art of characterization and foretelling the future through the study of the palm, also known as palm reading, or chirology. The practice is found all over the world, with numerous cultural variations. Those who practice (palmistry, reading of the palms). The latter three have traditional associations in the popular mind with the Roma The Romani are an ethnic group living mostly in Europe, who trace their origins to medieval India and Sinti Sinti or Sinta or Sinte is the name of a Romani or Gypsy population in Europe. Traditionally nomadic, today only a small percentage of the group remains unsettled. In earlier times, they frequently lived on the outskirts of communities, generally in squalor people (often called "gypsie")

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 Predominantly Protestant ; some Roman Catholics. Minorities practice Islam and other religions community.

Sociology

In Europe and America, fortune-telling has sometimes been considered a religious sin and both religious proscriptions and civil laws have, in certain times and places, forbidden the practice. For these reasons, many mainstream urban Europeans and Americans are unaware of how popular fortune-telling remains with the public and are surprised when they learn of a celebrity or politician who consults a fortune-teller for the purpose of making decisions.

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 predictions about future events. Methods used in character analysis readings include numerology Numerology is any of many systems, traditions or beliefs in a mystical or esoteric relationship between numbers and physical objects or living things, graphology Graphology is the study and analysis of handwriting especially in relation to human psychology. In the medical field, it can be used to refer to the study of handwriting as an aid in diagnosis and tracking of diseases of the brain and nervous system. The term is sometimes incorrectly used to refer to forensic document examination, palmistry Palmistry or chiromancy (also spelled cheiromancy, Greek cheir , “hand”; manteia (μαντεία), “divination”), is the art of characterization and foretelling the future through the study of the palm, also known as palm reading, or chirology. The practice is found all over the world, with numerous cultural variations. Those who practice (if the subject is present), and astrology Astrology is a group of systems, traditions, and beliefs which hold that the relative positions of celestial bodies and related details can provide information about personality, human affairs and other "earthly" matters. A practitioner of astrology is called an astrologer. Astrologers believe that the movements and positions of. 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.

In contemporary Western culture Western culture refers to cultures of European origin, 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.

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 A psychic is a person who professes an ability to perceive information hidden from the normal senses through extrasensory perception(ESP), or is said by others to have such abilities. It is also used to describe theatrical performers who use techniques such as prestidigitation, cold reading, and hot reading to produce the appearance of such (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 The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g. an "occult bleed" may be one detected indirectly by the presence of otherwise unexplained anaemia shops.

Fortune telling as a business in North America

Discussing the role of fortune-telling in society, Ronald H. Isaacs, an American rabbi The basic form of the rabbi developed in the Pharisaic and Talmudic era, when learned teachers assembled to codify Judaism's written and oral laws. In more recent centuries, the duties of the rabbi became increasingly influenced by the duties of the Protestant Christian Minister, hence the title "pulpit rabbis", and in 19th century and author, opined, “Since time immemorial humans have longed to learn that which the future holds for them. Thus, in ancient civilization, and even today with fortune telling as a true profession, humankind continues to be curious about its future, both out of sheer curiosity as well as out of desire to better prepare for it." ^[3]

Popular media outlets like the New York Times The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. Although it remains both the largest local metropolitan newspaper in the United States as well as being third largest overall, behind The Wall Street Journal and USA Today, the weekday circulation of the paper has fallen precipitously have explained to their American readers that although 5000 years ago, soothsayers were prized advisers to the Assyrians Assyria was a kingdom centered on the Upper Tigris river, in Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times through history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur (Akkadian: 𒀸𒋗𒁺 𐎹 Aššūrāyu; Arabic: أشور Aššûr; Hebrew: אַשּׁוּר Aššûr, Aramaic: ܐܬܘܪ Aṯur. The term, they lost respect and reverence during the rise of Reason in the 17th and 18th centuries.^[4]

With the rise of commercialism, “the sale of occult practices [adapted to survive] in the larger society,” according to sociologists Danny L. and Lin Jorgensen.^[5] Ken Feingold, writer of "Interactive Art as Divination as a Vending Machine," stated that with the invention of money, fortune-telling became “a private service, a commodity within the marketplace”^[6].

Print, televised and online advertisements for fortune-tellers are now almost as common as ads for orange juice Orange juice is a popular beverage made from oranges by extraction from the fresh fruit, by desiccation and subsequent reconstitution of the dried juice, or by concentration and subsequent addition of water to the concentrate. The term "orange juice" is also used, both colloquially and commercially, to refer to "concentrated orange and automobiles An automobile, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor. Most definitions of the term specify that automobiles are designed to run primarily on roads, to have seating for one to eight people, to typically have four wheels, and to be constructed principally for the. As J. Peder Zane wrote in the New York Times in 1994, “Whether it’s 3 P.M. or 3 A.M., there’s Dionne Warwick Dionne Warwick is an American singer and actress who became a United Nations Global Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization, and a United States Ambassador of Health and her psychic friends selling advice on love, money and success. In a nation where the power of crystals and the likelihood that angels hover nearby prompt more contemplation than ridicule, it may not be surprising that one million people a year call Ms. Warwick’s friends.” ^[4]

Clientele

In 1994, the psychic counsellor Rosanna Rogers of Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The municipality is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately 60 miles (100 km) west of the Pennsylvania border. It was founded in 1796 near the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, and became a explained to J. Peder Zane that a wide variety of people consulted her: “Couch potatoes aren’t the only people seeking the counsel of psychics and astrologers. Clairvoyants have a booming business advising Philadelphia bankers, Hollywood lawyers and CEO A chief executive officer or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer (executive) or administrator in charge of total management of an organization. An individual appointed as CEO of a corporation, company, organization, or agency reports to the board of directors’s of Fortune 500 The Fortune 500 is an annual list compiled and published by Fortune magazine that ranks the top 500 U.S. closely held and public corporations as ranked by their gross revenue after adjustments made by Fortune to exclude the impact of excise taxes companies collect. The list includes publicly and privately-held companies for which revenues are companies... If people knew how many people, especially the very rich and powerful ones, went to psychics, their jaws would drop through the floor.”^[4] Ms. Rogers “claims to have 4,000 names in her rolodex A Rolodex is a rotating file device used to store business contact information currently manufactured by Newell Rubbermaid. The Rolodex holds specially shaped index cards; the user writes the contact information for one person or company on each card. Many users avoid the effort of writing by taping the contact's business card directly to the.”^[4]

In 2000, a writer for the Northern Echo, a Canadian periodical, noted that the Canadian clairvoyant Mrs. Jane Welbourn said that “about 90% of the people I see are experiencing some stress, or something is bothering them. Whether it’s drink, drug, illness, financial, infidelity or marital problems, there is usually something.”^[7]

Typical clients

In 1982, Danny Jorgensen, a professor of Religious Studies at the University of South Florida The University of South Florida, also known as USF, is a member institution of the State University System of Florida, and is a public research university located in Tampa, Florida, USA, with an autonomous campus in St. Petersburg, and branch centers in Sarasota and Lakeland. The main campus is located in North Tampa, near the City of Temple offered a spiritual explanation for the popularity of fortune-telling. He said that that people visit psychics or fortune-tellers to gain self-understanding.^[8] and knowledge which will lead to personal power or success in some aspect of life^[9]

Thirteen years later, in 1995, Ken Feingold offered a different explanation for why people seek out fortune-tellers: “We desire to know other people’s actions and to resolve our own conflicts regarding decisions to be made and our participation in social groups and economies. … Divination seems to have emerged from our knowing the inevitability of death. The idea is clear—we know that our time is limited and that we want things in our lives to happen in accord with our wishes. Realizing that our wishes have little power, we have sought technologies for gaining knowledge of the future...gain power over our own [lives].”^[6]

Ultimately, the reasons a person consults a diviner or fortune teller are mediated by cultural expectations and by personal desires, and until a statistically rigorous study of the phenomenon have been conducted, the question of why people consult fortune-tellers is wide open for opinion-making.

Services

Traditional fortune-tellers vary in methodology, generally using techniques long established in their cultures and thus meeting the cultural expectations of their clientele.

In the United States and Canada, among clients of European ancestry, palmistry is popular ^[7] and, as with astrology and tarot card reading, advice is generally given about specific problems besetting the client.

Non-religious spiritual guidance may also be offered. An American clairvoyant by the name of Catherine Adams has written, “My philosophy is to teach and practice spiritual freedom, which means you have your own spiritual guidance, which I can help you get in touch with."^[10]

In the African American community, where many people practice a form of folk magic called hoodoo or rootworking, a fortune telling session or "reading" for a client may be followed by practical guidance in spell-casting and Christian prayer, through a process called "magical coaching." ^[11]

In addition to sharing and explaining their visions, fortune-tellers can also act like counselors by discussing and offering advice about their clients’ problems.^[7] They want their clients to exercise their own willpower.^[12]

Full-time careers

Some support themselves entirely on their fortune-telling business; others hold down one or more jobs, and their second jobs may or may not relate to the occupation of divining. In 1982, Danny L., and Lin Jorgensen found that “while there is considerable variation among [these secondary] occupations, [part-time fortune-tellers] are over-represented in human service fields: counseling, social work, teaching, health care.”^[13] The same authors, making a limited survey of North American diviners, found that the majority of fortune-tellers are married with children, and a few claim graduate degrees.^[14] "They attend movies, watch television, work at regular jobs, shop at K-Mart, sometimes eat at McDonald’s, and go to the hospital when they are seriously ill.”^[15]

Legality

In 1982, the sociologists Danny L., and Lin Jorgensen found that, “when it is reasonable, [fortune -tellers] comply with local laws and purchase a business license.”^[13] However, 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 outright 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 exercise, 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.^[16]

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.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia also bans the practice outright, considering fortune-telling to be sorcery and thus contrary to Islamic teaching and jurisprudence. It has been punishable by death.^[17]

Certification

Although there are a number of training and certification programs offered to North American fortune-tellers, most practitioners do not seek out teaching programs or display official documentation of training, but rely instead on alleged family teachings, natural ability, personal experience, and word of mouth as warrants of their fitness and giftedness for the occupation.

See also

• Divination
• Methods of divination
• Divination in Chinese culture
• Divination in African traditional religion
• Tengenjutsu (fortune telling)
• Forer effect

References

1. ^ Associated Press 6 July 2010
2. ^ A review of Bible verses prohibiting fortune telling and divination
3. ^ Isaacs, Ronald H. Divination, Magic, and Healing the Book of Jewish Folklore. Northvale N.J.: Jason Aronson, 1998. pg 55
4. ^ ^{a b c d} (Zane 1994)
5. ^ (Jorgensen & Jorgensen 1982, p. 376)
6. ^ ^{a b} (Feingold 1995, p. 399)
7. ^ ^{a b c} “Clairvoyant or counsellor? Meet the woman who walks a fine line.” The Northern Echo. 27 Oct. 2000.
8. ^ (Jorgensen & Jorgensen 1982, p. 381)
9. ^ (Jorgensen & Jorgensen 1982, p. 375)
10. ^ Adams, Catherine. “What is Clairvoyance and What Can I Expect in a Session With Catherine?”
11. ^ Association of Independent Readers and Rootworkers. "Acting as a personal trainer in magic, the rootworker can teach you how to construct a working candle altar, share new spells, remind you of the proper Psalms and prayers most often prescribed in your situation, and generally walk you through the work the same way that a family member or old friend would do."
12. ^ (Jorgensen & Jorgensen 1982, p. 384)
13. ^ ^{a b} (Jorgensen & Jorgensen 1982, p. 377)
14. ^ (Jorgensen & Jorgensen 1982, p. 337)
15. ^ (Jorgensen & Jorgensen 1982, p. 387)
16. ^ [1]
17. ^ Fortune Teller Faces Execution in Saudi Arabia pattayadailynews.com 01 April 2010 retrieved 17 July 2010

• Feingold, Ken (1995), "OU: Interactivity as Divination as Vending Machine" (), Leonardo, Third Annual New York Digital Salon 28 (5): 399–402, doi:10.2307/1576224, http://www.jstor.org/view/0024094x/ap050092/05a00100/0?currentResult=0024094x%2bap050092%2b05a00100%2b0%2c00&searchUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jstor.org%2Fsearch%2FBasicResults%3Fhp%3D25%26si%3D1%26gw%3Djtx%26jtxsi%3D1%26jcpsi%3D1%26artsi%3D1%26Query%3Daa%253A%2522Ken%2BFeingold%2522 .
• Jorgensen, Danny L.; Jorgensen, Lin (1982), "Social Meanings of the Occult", The Sociological Quarterly 23 (3): 373–389, doi:10.1111/j.1533-8525.1982.tb01019.x .
• Zane, J. Peder (11 September 1994), "Soothsayers as Business Advisers; You Are Going to Go on a Long Trip…", The New York Times, http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0CE0DA163BF932A2575AC0A962958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all# .

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