At its core, Chinese fortune telling is based on the Chinese Almanac. Fortune tellers turn to the Chinese Almanac first before adding their intuitions to a person’s reading.
What You Need for Basic Fortune Telling:
- Name (English and/or Chinese name)
- Birth date
- Time of Birth
- Age
What You Will Learn from Basic Fortune Telling:
Those who seek a basic fortune telling session can choose to have their entire life’s fortune told or a particular time period, such as the coming year or next two years, revealed in general terms.
The fortune teller will speak in general about key years in the past (like years when there were changes in your life) and important years ahead, your personal characteristics, and your basic overall outlook. He or she will also provide advice about how to proceed to have the best chances for your fortune to come true.
How Basic Fortune Telling Works and What You Can Expect:
Once you write down your name, birth date, time of birth and age, the fortune teller will count up the strokes in your Chinese name or, for Western names, look up your birth date, make a few calculations and then present your fortune. In Taiwan, the fortune is written down on pink paper, which is considered lucky, and placed in a hong bao.
The fortune telling consultation lasts approximately 30 minutes and takes place at a table or desk with the fortune teller and customer sitting across from each other. In many instances, there is little privacy as the fortune telling tables or booths are located next to each other with just a flimsy wall to partition them. As the fortune teller talks, he or she will write down key points and years for the client’s future consultation. The cost varies and is sometimes negotiable but it typically begins at $15 to $20 for a one to two year fortune but costs more for longer periods of time.
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