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Fortune-Telling
(redirected from fortune telling)

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Fortune-Telling 

or mantic, various methods for the imaginary divination of the future or the unknown. Fortune-telling arose in the epoch of primitive communal society. Fortune-telling by the cry, flight, and behavior of birds was common in connection with hunting, and later with cattle raising (for example, auspices in ancient Rome); the owl, raven, falcon, cock, and hen were thought to be particularly prophetic. Fortune-telling by the stars arose among the early farmers and later developed into the pseudoscience of astrology. The Babylonians, Etruscans, and Romans attempted to tell fortunes by the liver of a sacrificed animal, by its form and position in the carcass. Among many peoples there was fortune-telling by means of bones, beans, nuts, coffee grounds, and the like. Among the Slavs common methods of fortune-telling included dropping a ring in water, pouring wax, and fortune-telling with a mirror. In more recent centuries fortune-telling with cards and by lines on the palm of the hand (palmistry) has become widespread. One of the earliest and most universal types of fortune-telling, which has survived to the present day, is through dreams. Fortune-telling has as its basis a religious conception of a supernatural world that governs nature and mankind, with which one can establish contact and thereby learn the unknown. Fortune-telling is usually a tool of charlatans who exploit people’s ignorance and superstition.
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ComRes, the company that conducted the research for Theos, found that one in five believes in astrology or horoscopes, one in ten in Tarot or fortune telling and nearly three in ten people believe in reincarnation.
40pct Brits believe in ghosts by Asian News International
Almost 40 per cent now say phantoms really exist, while 15 per cent have faith in fortune telling and tarot cards.
More think ghosts real; SUPERNATURAL by The Mirror (London, England)
A further 22 per cent believe in astrology or horoscopes and 15 per cent believe in fortune telling or tarot, the research revealed.
Over half hold belief in a life after death by Coventry Evening Telegraph (England)
 
 
 
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