(350-600 words)
Fortune telling refers to the prediction of the future of an individual by supernatural or mystical means.
Fortunetellers or soothsayers use specific methods to foretell the future (distant or nearer) of a person by using the information provided by the person and extrapolating it with specified results to conclude the possible happenings of the future; however this method is subjective and most often events are totally opposite to what was predicted.
The History of fortunetelling goes back to 5000 years when special clairvoyants were hired for the Kings and clergymen to predict the most suitable strategies for them. Nevertheless, fortunetellers soon lost respect and popularity during the rise of Reason in the 17th and 18th century.
In Europe, fortunetelling was considered a sin, therefore it was legally forbidden, and civil laws were passed that forbade its practice completely. However, its popularity increased with years as people began to practice it unlawfully, and even now, despite the legal limitations, celebrities and politicians are observed to consult a fortuneteller for making decisions.
In Chinese society, Fortune telling is considered an important part of social and business culture and a large number of methods (typically devised by Chinese grand masters) are used to predict nearer future in the Chinese year.
In the African-American society, it is practiced without any prohibition, and a modern method of casting bone and hoodoo (magical coaching) is popular because of the accuracy of its results.
Common methods used for fortunetelling are astromancy, Tarot reading (card reading), crystallomancy (reading crystal sphere), pendulum reading, contumacy, horary astrology, and spirit board reading, which come from the old Roman and gypsy methods.
Another form of fortunetelling is the spiritual consultation, in which no specific methods are used; rather, the practitioner gives the subject advices, which come from the spirits or in visions.
In addition to predicting the future, modern future tellers also give psychic readings, which use methods such as numerology, graphology, palmistry and astrology to help people solve their problems.
In the contemporary society, Women are seen more often than men are, to consult the fortunetellers to help them in romantic, financial or studious matters, which are shown by the excessive advertisements in magazines aimed at women.
Businesspersons consult fortunetellers for predicting their future investments, and profits. Most people approach psychic readers to help them understand their inner-self, or most often predict the future of their married life or their compatibility with their spouse.
Moreover, modern soothsayers have opened their websites or they are registered with the websites and TV channels such as MSN astrology and astrology.com where spiritual-strength-seekers are given attractive offers of free psychic reading, compatibility test, or even death tests and therefore, fortune telling has become a big source for commercial gain.
Apart from this, still in many countries, face reading, palm reading, physiotherapy, and 'Bazi' are used by the street fortune tellers as the basic source of their income, where internet psychology is still unpopular, because of its expensiveness.
On the other hand, religious scholars consider it unlawful and against the religious doctrine.
Christian and Islamic followers believe that fortune telling is an open challenge to God and that it is clearly forbidden in Bible. Islamic scholars object to its practice by stating that the knowledge of the future and the power to make future is in the hands of God, and it is against the Islamic laws to try to predict future although it is stated as a true knowledge in Quran.
In addition, people against it justify its unlawfulness by saying that it may be merely a way of reducing anxiety among people or a source of entertainment and because predictions usually use vague terms, they never lend themselves to falsification.
A fortuneteller may also be used by some biased political forces to appeal to the decision to be made.
Despite its unreliability, Fortunetellers have so far been successful in convincing people to use future prediction to control the inevitable events in their life.
