Fortune-telling is the practice of predicting information about a person’s life. The scope of fortune-telling is in principle identical with the practice of divination. The difference is that divination is the term used for predictions considered part of a religious ritual, invoking deities or spirits, while the term fortune-telling implies a less serious or formal setting, even one of popular culture, where belief in occult workings behind the prediction is less prominent than the concept of suggestion, spiritual or practical advisory or affirmation.
Historically, fortune-telling grows out of folkloristic reception of Renaissance magic, specifically associated with Romani people. During the 19th and 20th century, methods of divination from non-Western cultures, such as the I 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 no vestiges of belief in the occult, would be the Magic 8-Ball sold as a toy by Mattel, or Paul II, an octopus at the Sea Life Aquarium at Oberhausen used to predict the outcome of matches played by the German national football team.
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Author: Wikipedia
Keywords: Fortune telling, Seance, Spiritualism, Spirit, Immortal spirit, eternal spirit, undying spirit, undieing spirit, immortal soul, eternal soul, undying soul, immortality of the soul, breath of life, breath, life, life after death, communicating with the dead, communication with the dead, death, sorcerer, medium, familiar spirit, divination, Witch of Endor, Saul and the witch, Speaking to the dead, Conjure, Conjuring, conjuring up the dead, Augury, Seeing the future, Predicting the future, Soothsaying, Soothsayer, Sooth sayer, Sooth saying, Necromancy, Necromancer, Diviner, hepatoscopy, Witchcraft, wizard, fortune teller
Bible reference(s): Gen 44:5, Exodus 22:18, Leviticus 19:31, Leviticus 20:6, Leviticus 20:27, Numbers 22:7, Numbers 23:23, Deuteronomy 18:10, Deuteronomy 18:11, 1 Samuel 28:3, 1 Samuel 28:7-20, 2 Kings 17:17, 2 Kings 21:6, 2 Kings 23:24, 1 Chronicles 10:13, 2 Chronicles 33:6, Isaiah 8:19, Isaiah 19:3, Isaiah 29:4, Jeremiah 14:14, Ezekiel 12:24, Ezekiel 13:6, Ezekiel 13:7, Ezekiel 21:21, Ezekiel 21:22, Ezekiel 21:23, Acts 16:16
Source: This article uses material from the Wikipedia article “Fortune-telling,” which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.
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