EXTRAIT

Six Methods of Fortune-telling

The term fortune-telling will be used in its broadest sense, so as to include all kinds of divining or prognosticating the fortunes of an individual or his descendants.

Fortune-tellers are consulted in regard to a large variety of subjects, important and unimportant ; according to the caprice of the moment or the superstition of the individual. They are frequently consulted in regard to the buying of houses or of farms, in regard to the recovery of a sick man, or whether a certain investment of funds will be profitable or unprofitable ; whether an anticipated journey will be successful or not ; whether one’s literary efforts will be attended with success, and at what time he will graduate ; whether one may effect a change of fortune from bad to good ; whether one will have children in the future, and what will be their sex, etc.

Six different methods of telling fortunes are found in use among the Chinese.

By using the eight horary characters which denote the year, month, day, and hour of one’s birth. This is perhaps the most common and the most popular kind of fortune-telling in this part of the empire. There is a constant reference to the ‘five elements’ and certain ‘twelve animals’. A particular examination and explanation of the terms ‘eight characters’, ‘five elements’, and ‘twelve animals’, as related to fortune­telling, will soon be given.

Of this kind of fortune-tellers there are two classes, blind men and men who are not blind. The blind fortune-tellers are usu-ally led about the streets by a lad — some find their way alone. Some of them have a kind of harp, which they play occasionally as they slowly walk along the street. Sometimes they carry a rattle, which consists of two small pieces of wood. These are held in one hand, and, when struck or clapped together in a particular manner, produce a sound much like kok kok, or, when struck together in another manner, produce the sound pok pok. This sound, when heard, indicates the approach or presence of a blind fortune-teller. This class of men seldom or never open a shop where they may be consulted, but traverse the streets and laves, depending on incidental customers. These are said to ‘reckon fortunes’.

The fortune-tellers whose eyesight is good are said to ‘see the fortunes’ of their patrons. They seldom or never go about the streets seeking patronage, but generally open a shop in some frequented street, where they await those who wish to consult them.

The rules of the art are the same for both classes. There are books which teach how to prognosticate by a reference to the precise time of one’s birth, compared with the five elements, deducing a conclusion propitious or unpropitious. The blind fortune-teller labors under the great disadvantage of having to calculate the fortunes of his patrons without making constant reference to books, but depending principally on the accuracy and tenacity of his memory. These two classes generally are composed of men wearing good apparel, and conducting themselves with propriety.

By an inspection of the physiognomy. This kind of for-tune-tellers do not open a shop, but usually select a convenient place in the street, where they can display a chart, to which they make frequent reference. They inspect the eyes and eye-brows, nose, mouth, ears, cheek-bones and temples, the lips, teeth, and the beard or whiskers of the customer, if a man. They compare the ‘five governors’ together (ears, eyes, nose, mouth, and eyebrows) to determine whether they agree or are fitting, and whether the expression of countenance is proper and correct, and whether it is honorable or mean. They ob-serve the manner of one’s walking or sitting, and draw inferences in regard to the future fortunes of the individual, whether he will be rich or poor, an officer or a beggar. They dilate on the revelations of the physiognomy as relating to the past good or bad fortunes of the dupe, or to his future good or bad fortunes.

They also carefully examine his fingers, one by one, in re-gard to length, and the palms of his hands as to thickness, and the lines or natural marks on his palms, whether few or many, and whether the palm is divided into two main parts by lines across it, and whether it is red. All those important items contribute to enable them to tell whether their ‘guest’ will be poor or rich, etc. By an inspection of the space between the nose and the mouth they foretell whether he is to be long or short lived. By observing the thinness or the thickness of the lips, and the narrowness or the width of the mouth, they are enabled to decide in regard to his abundance or want of ‘food and clothing’ in the future. The coarseness or fineness of his eyebrows aids them in determining the good or the bad character of the man. If numerous blood-vessels appear plainly beneath the skin of the face, the person must surely be of a very violent and fierce disposition ; whereas, if his counte-nance is mild and gentle, his heart is pronounced affectionate and benevolent.

These peripatetic physiognomists carry about with them a kind of cloth satchel, on which are written characters which indicate their profession. They may often be seen in crowded localities, surrounded by a knot of persons, to whom they are expatiating glibly on their powers to reveal the future or the past, in the hope of getting a customer.

By means of a bird and slips of paper. This fortune-teller, like the preceding, traverses the streets in pursuit of employment. He carries in one hand a piece of the little end of a cow’s horn, five or six inches long, and a small bamboo stick. These two are tied together loosely at one end, and he manages to strike or clap them together so as to make a peculiar sound. This is his rattle, or the signal of his approach or proximity. In the other hand, or suspended from a front button on his coat, he carries a small bird-cage, containing a little bird of a certain species. He always carries with him on these professional excursions sixty-four small sheets of paper, on each of which is sketched a figure of a god, or bird, or beast, or person ; on each sheet is also written a short verse of poetry, usually four lines, each of seven characters. These sheets are folded up in such a manner that the picture and the poetry shall be unseen. When the fortune-teller is invited to tell the fortunes of some appli-cant, he arranges the sixty-four pieces of paper on a table or on the ground, and places the birdcage near them. He now opens the door of it ; the bird comes out, and picks up one of the sheets with its bill, which he takes, opens, and explains. The bird, in the mean time, has been rewarded with a kernel of paddy, and has entered the cage. It is again let out, when it proceeds to pick up another folded sheet, which is in like manner unfolded, inspected, and explain-ed by the fortune-teller. In view of the picture and the poetry, he is able to expatiate quite learnedly and profoundly in regard to the subject submit-ted to him by his customer.

Some say that he frequently allows the bird to select two pieces of paper out of the sixty-four before he shuts it up, or discourses on the contents of either. The difference is immaterial. In either case, he professes to get his inspiration from these slips of paper. Females and the lower classes of the populace largely patronize this kind of fortune-tellers.

By the dissection of written characters. This class of fortune-tellers seldom or never open a shop ; but when engaged professionally, they select a convenient spot by the side of a frequented street, and, having spread some oiled paper or cloth on the ground, and having arranged writing implements near by, look out for customers. They generally carry with them a small box, which contains a quantity of small sheets of paper folded up. On the inside of each is written one Chinese character. The customer is requested to select or take at random two of these sheets, which he proceeds to do, one at a time. These are taken by the fortune-teller, opened, and the characters written upon them are noticed. He then proceeds to dissect each by writing out separately the distinct parts of which each is composed. Afterward he discourses on the subject about which inquiries have been made, making frequent reference to the meaning of the separate parts of the characters, and finally decides about it, usually in a knowing and authoritative manner ; at other times he gives comprehensive hints and directions to the customer, so that he may not err in his future course, at least so far as this subject under consideration is concerned. Oftentimes, before the conclusion is reached, he adds strokes, by an adroit use of his writing pencil, to some or all of these component parts under inspection, thereby making new words out of them, from whose meaning he draws sagacious and wonderful inferences in regard to the good or bad fortune of the individual who is consulting him. It is averred that this class of fortune-tellers explain the characters, dissected according to a fixed plan, and as they have previously decided to do, without any special deviation, in view of the apparent condition or charac-ter of the applicant.

By the use of the tortoise-shell and three ancient cash. Those who practice divination in this manner have shops or offices where they may be consulted by those who pre-fer this method of ascer-taining their fortunes. The cash commonly used are a certain kind coined during the Tang dynasty. They first light incense and candles, placing them before the picture of an old man whom they worship as the deity who presides over this kind of divination. They then take the cash and put them into a tortoise-shell, which they shake once or twice before the picture, invoking the aid and presence of the god. They then empty the cash out, and, taking them in one hand, they strike the shell gently three times with them, still repeating their formulas. The cash are again put into the shell, and shaken as before three times, when they are turned out upon a plate, carefully observing the manner in which they appear after having fallen out upon the plate. After noting how many have the reverse side upward, the same cash are put into the shell, and a similar operation is re-peated once and again. At the conclusion of the third shaking and the third observation of the relative positions of the cash, they proceed to compare the diagrams with the five elements, according to the abstruse and intricate rules of this species of divination. After a tedious process of observations and comparisons, they pronounce judgment on the matter under investigation.

This method of fortune-telling, often referred to under the terms of divining by the use of the ‘eight diagrams’, is re­garded generally by the Chinese as the most correct of all the ways in use of prognosticating the condition of things in the future. It is believed to require a vast amount of care, skill, and lore, as well as experience, to cast a reliable horoscope by the use of the cash and tortoise-shell, and in accordance with the ancient rules of the art. Many have little or no confidence in the majority of those who profess to cast horoscopes by the use of this method, asserting that they are ignorant quacks, not carrying out the instructions of the ancients — not proceed­ing secundem artem. The literary class profess to believe­ — at least very many of them — that, when properly done, this method of divination is orthodox and infallible.

By an inspection of the earth and scenery, in order to fix upon a fortunate burial-place. This is often called geomancy, but comes readily into the list of methods of fortune-telling, for it relates to the future fortunes of the descendants of the deceased, whose burial-place is to be selected.

There is a class of men often employed by those who can afford the expense to select a lucky site for the burial of their dead, in the expectation that their posterity will reap the ben­efit. This is often spoken of as ‘looking at the wind and water’. The geomancer, taking his compass and other appara-tus, goes to the hills with one of the family employing hirn. After having arranged his compass on the proposed site, he waits a while until it has settled. He now proceeds to inves-tigate the adaptedness of the spot for the desired object by observing the nature of the ground, the color of the soil, its relative position to surrounding hills, valleys, streams, etc. If he ascertains by any means that there are large rocks in the earth at this spot, it is rejected as unpropitious. If he observes that water issues out of the ground, or that it is natu-rally wet, it is declared unlucky. The spot selected should be quite dry, and the most propitious color for the soil is a kind of ‘golden yellow’.

A side-hill is preferred to any other site for a grave ; for, as the chair has a back, so should the grave have a back ; and as the chair has arms, so should the grave have arms. In other words, the spot should admit of the grave and its fixtures being made, in some respects, like the form of the chair, in order that the dead may repose securely. This can not easily be accomplished on a plain or on the top of a hill.

It is also highly important that the site of the proposed grave should compare favorably, according to Chinese modes of thinking, with the near and the remote hills situated direct-ly in front — with what is indistinct as well as with what is distinct. The grave ought to ‘eat the wind and the water’ of the opposite hills in a lucky manner ; if it does not, it will not be for the profit of the children and more remote posterity of the deceased that his remains should be deposited there. If in front of the proposed site there should be a deep gully, or if there should be a hill, the shadow of whose peak falls some-times on the site or directly toward it, or if in front there should be neither hill nor stream, but a level, dry plain, the place should be rejected as unpropitious. The person who is buried there will certainly not have a numerous or a wealthy posterity. But if some stream should apparently encircle or flow around the grave in the distance, other things being equally lucky, the individual who should be buried there will most assuredly have a large, rich, and honorable body of descendants. If the stream should flow away from the grave, with no winding around toward it, it would be an omen of evil to his posterity, unless there should be something else in the surroundings exceedingly propitious, so as to counteract the evil omen.

The sagacious geomancer is also careful to observe the mountain or hill on the right and left sides of the spot for a lucky grave. The left-hand side is called the ‘black dragon’, the right-hand side is called the ‘white tiger’. The lucky prospects, in a Chinese sense, on the hills situated to the left, should clearly surpass the prospects of the hills on the right. And the reason for this is manifest, for the black dragon is naturally weaker than the white tiger. If the tiger, in addition to his nature strength and fierceness of disposition, should obtain the advantage over the dragon in consequence of having a more propitious prospect of ‘wind and water’, the result would be that some of the posterity of the occupant of the proposed grave would be more turbulent and violent than others, or that some would be very rich and honored, while others would be poor and without high rank. In order to ob-tain and preserve the proper equality of fortune among the descendants of the deceased, it is quite important that ‘the wind and water’ prospects on the side of the white tiger should be inferior to the ‘wind and water’ prospects on the side of the black dragon.

The above remarks on six kinds of fortune-telling common among the Chinese have not been designed to exhaust the subject, but simply to indicate some facts relating to it. They show how willing the people are to deceive and delude them-selves, and at their own expense.

All of these kinds of fortune-tellers are very fluent in speech, and are ever ready to say something on the multifarious points which are submitted to them for examination and decision. They all have a very patronizing manner.

The cheapest of these six methods of fortune-telling is by means of a bird and slips of paper, the charge usually being only four or six cash. The dearest and the most tedious is the last described — by geomancy. Oftentimes, in the case of rich families, several score of dollars are paid to the geomancer for selecting a propitious site for a grave. The poorer fami­lies who employ such a helper in fixing the site for a grave sometimes only pay a few thousand cash, or even a few hund­red cash for his services. The snrn paid a fortune-teller for divining one’s fortune by dissecting a Chinese character is small — usually eight or twelve cash ; for divining by the use of the tortoise-shell, about a handred cash, more or less. Of the class first mentioned, the blind man who takes to the streets and lanes in search of employment receives generally about twenty cash ; and the man who has the use of his eyes, and who also divines by means of the eight characters which de-note the precise time of the birth of the applicant, receives about forty cash for his services. Sometimes the same person is able to tell fortunes in two of the ways above mentioned, to accommodate the preference of his customers. He always en­deavors to please and gratify his ‘guests’.