Fortune tellingis the unproven spiritual practice ofpredictinginformation about a person's life.[1]The scope of fortune telling is in principle identical with the practice ofdivination.The difference is that divination is the term used for predictions considered part of areligiousritual, invoking deities or spirits, while the term fortune telling implies a less serious or formal setting, even one ofpopular culture,where belief in occult workings behind the prediction is less prominent than the concept ofsuggestion,spiritual or practicaladvisoryoraffirmation.
Historically,Pliny the Elderdescribes use of thecrystal ballin the 1st centuryCEby soothsayers ("crystallum orbis",later written inMedieval Latinby scribes asorbuculum).[2]Contemporary Western images of fortune telling grow out offolkloristicreception ofRenaissance magic,specifically associated withRomanipeople.[1]During the 19th and 20th century,methods of divinationfrom non-Western cultures, such as theI Ching,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 novestigesof belief in the occult, would be theMagic 8-Ballsold as a toy byMattel,orPaul the Octopus,an octopus at theSea Life AquariumatOberhausenused to predict the outcome of matches played by theGermany national football team.[3]There is opposition to fortune telling inChristianity,Islam,BaháʼísmandJudaismbased on scriptural prohibitions against divination. Terms for one who claims to see into the future includefortune teller,crystal-gazer,spaewife,seer,soothsayer,sibyl,clairvoyant,andprophet;related terms which might include this among other abilities areoracle,augur,andvisionary.Fortune telling is dismissed byskepticsas being based onpseudoscience,magical thinkingandsuperstition.
Methods
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Common methods used for fortune telling in Europe and the Americas includeastromancy,horary astrology,pendulumreading,spirit boardreading,tasseography(reading tea leaves in a cup),cartomancy(fortune telling with cards),tarot card reading,crystallomancy(reading of a crystal sphere), andchiromancy(palmistry, reading of the palms). The last three have traditional associations in the popular mind with theRomaandSintipeople.
Another form of fortune telling, sometimes called "reading" or "spiritual consultation", does not rely on specific devices or methods, but rather the practitioner gives the client advice and predictions which are said to have come from spirits or in visions:
- Aeromancy:by interpreting atmospheric conditions.
- Alectromancy:by observation of aroosterpecking at grain.
- Aleuromancy:by flour.
- Astrology:by the movements of celestial bodies.
- Astromancy:by the stars.
- Augury:by the flight of birds.
- Auramancyby someone's aura or feelings
- Bazi or four pillars:by hour, day, month, and year of birth.
- Bibliomancy:by books; frequently, but not always, religious texts.
- Cartomancy:by playing cards,tarotcards, or oracle cards.
- Ceromancy:by patterns in melting or dripping wax.
- Chiromancy:by the shape of the hands and lines in the palms.
- Chronomancy:by determination of lucky and unlucky days.
- Clairvoyance:by spiritual vision or inner sight.
- Cleromancy:by casting of lots, or casting bones or stones.
- Cold reading:by using visual and aural clues.
- Crystallomancy:bycrystal ballalso calledscrying.
- Extispicy:by the entrails of animals.
- Face reading:by means of variations in face and head shape.
- Feng shui:by earthen harmony.
- Gastromancy:by stomach-basedventriloquism(historically).
- Geomancy:by markings in the ground, sand, earth, or soil.
- Haruspicy:by the livers of sacrificed animals.
- Horary astrology:the astrology of the time the question was asked.
- Hydromancy:bywater.
- I Ching divination:by yarrow stalks or coins and theI Ching.
- Kau cimby means of numbered bamboo sticks shaken from a tube.
- Lithomancy:by stones or gems.
- Molybdomancy:by molten metal after dumped in cold water.
- Naeviology:by moles, scars, or other bodily marks.
- Necromancy:by the dead, or by spirits or souls of the dead.
- Nephomancy:by shapes of clouds.
- Numerology:by numbers.
- Oneiromancy:bydreams.
- Onomancy:by names.
- Onychomancy:by a form of palmistry looking at the fingernails.
- Palmistry:by lines and mounds on the hand.
- Parrot astrology:by parakeets picking up fortune cards
- Paper fortune teller:origamiused in fortune-telling games.
- Pendulumreading: by the movements of a suspended object.
- Pyromancy:by gazing into fire.
- Rhabdomancy:divination by rods.
- RunecastingorRunic divination:byrunes.
- Scrying:by looking at or into reflective objects.
- Spirit board:by planchette or talking board.
- Taromancy:by a form of cartomancy using tarot cards.
- Tasseographyortasseomancy:by tea leaves or coffee grounds.
Sociology
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Western fortune tellers typically attempt predictions on matters such as future romantic, financial, and childbearing prospects. Many fortune tellers will also give "character readings". These may usenumerology,graphology,palmistry(if the subject is present), andastrology.[citation needed]
In contemporaryWestern culture,it appears that women consult fortune tellers more than men.[4]Some women have maintained long relationships with their personal readers. Telephone consultations withpsychicsgrew in popularity through the 1990s, and by the 2010s additional contact methods such as email and videoconferencing also became available, but none of these have completely replaced traditional in-person methods of consultation.[5]
As a business in North America
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Discussing the role of fortune telling in society, Ronald H. Isaacs, an Americanrabbiand 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."[6] Although 5000 years ago, soothsayers were prized advisers to theAssyrians,they lost respect and reverence during the rise ofReasonin the 17th and 18th centuries.[7]
With the rise of commercialism, "the sale of occult practices [adapted to survive] in the larger society," according to sociologistsDanny L.and Lin Jorgensen.[8]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".[9]
AsJ. Peder Zanewrote inThe New York Timesin 1994, referring to thePsychic Friends Network,"Whether it's 3 P.M. or 3 A.M., there'sDionne Warwickand 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. "[7]
Clientele
editIn 1994, the psychic counsellor Rosanna Rogers ofCleveland,Ohio, explained to J. Peder Zane that a wide variety of people consulted her: "Couch potatoesaren't the only people seeking the counsel of psychics and astrologers. Clairvoyants have a booming business advising Philadelphia bankers, Hollywood lawyers andCEO's ofFortune 500companies... If people knew how many people, especially the very rich and powerful ones, went to psychics, their jaws would drop through the floor. "[7]Rogers "claims to have 4,000 names in herrolodex."[7]
Janet Lee,also known as the Greenwich psychic, claims that her clientele often included Wall Street brokers who were looking for any advantage they could get. Her usual fee was around $150 for a session but some clients would pay between $2,000 and $9,000 per month to have her available 24 hours a day to consult.[10]
Typical clients
editIn 1982,Danny Jorgensen,a professor of Religious Studies at theUniversity of South Floridaoffered a spiritual explanation for the popularity of fortune telling. He said that people visit psychics or fortune tellers to gain self-understanding,[11]and knowledge which will lead to personal power or success in some aspect of life.[12]
In 1995, Ken Feingold offered a different explanation for why people seek out fortune tellers:[9]
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].
Ultimately, the reasons a person consults adivineror fortune teller depend on cultural and personal expectations.
Services
editTraditional 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,palmistryis popular[13]and, as withastrologyand 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."[14]
In the African American community, where many people practice a form of folk magic calledhoodooor rootworking, a fortune-telling session or "reading" for a client may be followed by practical guidance in spell-casting and Christianprayer,through a process called "magical coaching".[15]
In addition to sharing and explaining their visions, fortune tellers can also act like counselors by discussing and offering advice about their clients' problems.[13]They want their clients to exercise their own willpower.[16]
Full-time careers
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Some fortune tellers support themselves entirely on their divination 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."[17]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.[18]"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."[19]
Legality
editIn 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."[17]However, in theUnited 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 favor of terms such as "spiritual advisor" or "psychic consultant." There are also laws that outright forbid the practice in certain districts.
For instance, fortune telling is a class Bmisdemeanorin the state ofNew 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.[20]
Lawmakers 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. In the states ofMinnesota,North Carolina,Oklahoma,Pennsylvania,andWisconsin,all forms of fortune-telling are illegal.[21]
InAustralia,fortune-telling is illegal inSouth Australiaand theNorthern Territory.[22]
Saudi Arabiaalso bans the practice outright, considering fortune telling to be sorcery and thus contrary to Islamic teaching andjurisprudence.It has been punishable by death.[23]
In theUnited Kingdom,there was The Fraudulent Mediums Act 1951 which prohibited a person from claiming to be a fortune teller in order to make money for another reason than the purpose of entertainment. This act was repealed in 2008, and replaced by The Consumer Protection Act.[24]
Critical analysis
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Fortune telling is easily dismissed by critics asmagical thinkingandsuperstition.[25][26][27]
SkepticBergen Evanssuggested that fortune telling is the result of a "naïve selection of something that have happened from a mass of things that haven't, the clever interpretation of ambiguities, or a brazen announcement of the inevitable."[28]Other skeptics claim that fortune telling is nothing more thancold reading.[29]
A large amount offraudhas been proven in the practice of fortune telling.[30]
Fortune telling and how it works raises many critical questions. For example, fortune-telling occurs through various methods such as psychic readings and tarot cards. Similarly, these methods are largely based on random phenomena. For example, astrologers believe that the movement of stars in the sky can have implications on one's life.[31]In the case of tarot cards, people believe that images displayed on the cards have significant meanings on their lives. However, there is a lack of evidence to support why such things, such as the stars, would have any implications on our lives.
Additionally, fortune-telling readings and predictions made by horoscopes, for example, are often general enough to apply to anyone. In cold reading, for example, readers often begin by stating general descriptions and continuing to make specifics based on the reactions they receive from the person whose life they are predicting.[32]The tendency for people to deem general descriptions as being representative to themselves has been termed theBarnum effectand has been studied by psychologists for many years.[32]
Nonetheless, even with a lack of evidence supporting the various methods of fortune-telling and the many frauds that have occurred by psychic readers, amongst others, fortune-telling continues to become popular around the world. There are many reasons for the appealing nature of fortune-telling such as that people often experience stress when there is uncertainty and thus seek to gain deeper insight into their lives.
See also
edit- Chinese fortune telling
- Chinese spiritual world concepts
- Divination
- Divination in African traditional religion
- Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns and other Delusions
- Fortune teller machine
- Kumari
- Ka-Balaboard game
- Houdini's debunking spiritualists
- I Chingdivination
- Bob Nygaard(psychic investigator)
- Peter Popoff investigated by James Randi
- Prophecy
- Psychic Blues: Confessions of a Conflicted Medium
- Rose Mackenberg(American investigator of psychic mediums)
- Tengenjutsu(fortune telling)
Notes
edit- ^abMelton, J. Gordon.(2008).The Encyclopedia of Religious Phenomena.Visible Ink Press. pp. 115–116.ISBN1-57859-209-7
- ^Pliny the Elder (1831).Caii Plinii Secundi Historiæ naturalis libri xxxvii, cum selectis comm. J. Harduini ac recentiorum interpretum novisque adnotationibus.p. 579.Retrieved7 November2015.(in Latin)
- ^Associated Press6 July 2010
- ^Blécourt, Willem de; Usborne, Cornelle. (1999).Women's Medicine, Women's Culture: Abortion and Fortune telling in Early Twentieth-Century Germany and the Netherlands.Medical History43: 376–392.
- ^Burton, Valentina. The Fortune Teller's Guide to Success: Creating a Wonderful Career as a Psychic. 2011; Lucky Mojo Curio Co. (revised) Fourth Edition 2018.
- ^Isaacs, Ronald H. Divination, Magic, and Healing the Book of Jewish Folklore. Northvale N.J.: Jason Aronson, 1998. pg 55
- ^abcd(Zane 1994)
- ^(Jorgensen & Jorgensen 1982,p. 376)
- ^ab(Feingold 1995,p. 399)
- ^Kadet, Anne (8 March 2014)."In Greenwich, Where Money Is No Object".The Wall Street Journal.Archived fromthe originalon 12 November 2017.Retrieved31 January2019.
- ^(Jorgensen & Jorgensen 1982,p. 381)
- ^(Jorgensen & Jorgensen 1982,p. 375)
- ^ab"Clairvoyant or counsellor? Meet the woman who walks a fine line."The Northern Echo. 27 October 2000.
- ^Adams, Catherine."What is Clairvoyance and What Can I Expect in a Session With Catherine?"Archived18 December 2007 at theWayback Machine
- ^"Magical Coaching and Spiritual Advice are among the ancillary services offered by some diviners and root doctors. These consultation services are usually engaged on an hourly basis." – excerpt from an article on "magical coaching" at the Association of Independent Readers and Rootworkers web site
- ^(Jorgensen & Jorgensen 1982,p. 384)
- ^ab(Jorgensen & Jorgensen 1982,p. 377)
- ^(Jorgensen & Jorgensen 1982,p. 337)
- ^(Jorgensen & Jorgensen 1982,p. 387)
- ^Leginfo.state.ny.us
- ^"The First Amendment is for Fortune-tellers, Too | Free Inquiry".2 June 2003.
- ^"Did they see it coming? How fortune-telling took hold in Australia - with women as clients and criminals".3 February 2020.
- ^Fortune Teller Faces Execution in Saudi ArabiaArchived4 April 2010 at theWayback Machinepattayadailynews.comArchived23 June 2021 at theWayback Machine1 April 2010 retrieved 17 July 2010
- ^https://www.oddleentertainment.co.uk/hire-a-mind-reader-oddle-entertainment/
- ^Pronko, Nicholas Henry. (1969).Panorama of Psychology.Brooks/Cole Publishing Company. p. 18
- ^Miller, Gale. (1978).Odd Jobs: The World of Deviant Work.Prentice-Hall. pp. 66–68
- ^Regal, Brian. (2009).Pseudoscience: A Critical Encyclopedia.Greenwood. p. 55.ISBN978-0-313-35507-3
- ^Evans, Bergen.(1955).The Spoor of Spooks: And Other Nonsense.Purnell. p. 16
- ^Cogan, Robert. (1998).Critical Thinking: Step by Step.University Press of America. p. 212.ISBN0-7618-1067-6
- ^Steiner, Robert A. (1996).Fortunetelling.InGordon Stein.The Encyclopedia of the Paranormal.Prometheus Books. pp. 281–290.ISBN1-57392-021-5
- ^Thagard, Paul R. (1978).Why astrology is a pseudoscienceinThe Philosophy of Science Association,1978 Volume 1, pp. 223–234.
- ^abDutton, D.L. (1988).The Cold Reading TechniqueinExperientia,Volume 44, pp. 326–332
References
edit- Feingold, Ken(1995), "OU: Interactivity as Divination as Vending Machine",Leonardo,Third AnnualNew York Digital Salon,28(5): 399–402,doi:10.2307/1576224,JSTOR1576224,S2CID61727726
- Hughes, M., Behanna, R; Signorella, M. (2001).Perceived Accuracy of Fortune Telling and Belief in the Paranormal.Journal of Social Psychology 141: 159–160.
- 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.
External links
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Media related toFortune-tellingat Wikimedia Commons
