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THE TRADITIONAL CHINESE FORTUNE TELLER

He is found not only in Chinese temples and their side streets but also on five-foot paths along busy streets, market places and villages.

No self-respecting Fortune Teller would practise his art without the Chinese Almanac, a book that is an authentic Lunar Calendar containing all the Do's and Don'ts for each day of the year, down to the most favorable and unfavorable hours of each day. This calendar-almanac is still published yearly in Hong Kong and Taiwan and it requires some knowledge of codes to interpret.

Farmers would ask about the most favorable days each year to sow and reap their crops and when the rains would come. Others would want to know when was the right time to start building a home or when to move into a new home and of course when to get married.

When the Chinese Lunar Almanac shows a picture of a farmer with his trousers rolled up, it indicates a year of wading through flooded rice paddies. When it shows a farmer leading a fat, robust Spring Ox, that would symbolize a year of plenty ahead. When the farmer is depicted with wooden clogs, it would indicate a year of little water; when he wears only straw slippers and leads a thin, hungry-looking Spring Ox, it would signify a lean year of drought and crop failures.

On the spot, when you tell the Fortune Teller your birth data, he usually calculates on the fingers of both hands the 12 animals (aka Earthly Branches) and the 5 elements (aka Heavenly Stems). This is the basic application of the Four Pillars (Ba Zi).
Please see related write-up: Why The Month Pillar Is The Most Important Of The Four Pillars

Usually, the Fortune Teller would have to call upon some intuition to give a credible reading. He might surprise you with the quite accurate telling of the past and the present. As for the future, well, who knows but the clients themselves? The future can generally be seen as in the present and so our present activities can and do indicate our futures.

Sometimes, the Fortune Teller might refer to books and pray to statues, chant a little, ask for guidance to advise correctly and also for good measure, provide numbers for gambling. One method is to use two small objects and toss it and study where it falls; whether it falls one face up or two up, two down, whatever, and the fortune teller might use bamboo sticks in a bamboo vase -- throwing off some sticks and 'reading' the messages.

Traditionally, the Fortune Teller would include some Palmistry, some card readings, and some of his associates even go into trances (as in transchanelling), and also speak in foreign tongues. Some contact spirits from the other side to ask for guidance and luck on behalf of their customers.

If you think that's bizarre, some desperate people even go to cemeteries to visit the graves of pregnant women who died in childbirth or accidents to request for gambling luck. Research indicates these hard-up people more or less DO get the results they ask for although in the end, they somehow have to pay tragically for their greed. Akin to the selling of one's soul, perhaps. Yet some other Fortune Tellers sell lucky gem stones, especially Jades to augment their income.

Most of these practices have their background in Taoism. Including the use of Chinese hand-held bamboo fans to ward off evil spirits. Quite recently, these were criticized as superstitious nonsense and the Chinese were directed to Buddhism. Still, the various beliefs are practised here and there in dwindling numbers.

The more knowledgeable of these traditional Chinese Fortune Tellers also dabble in medicine and acupuncture, believing the five elements rule the five major organs of the body. Metal is linked to the lungs; Fire, the heart; Water is associated with the kidneys; Earth, the spleen and pancreas and finally, Wood is identified with the liver. The traditional Chinese Doctor, Herbalist and/or Acupuncturist keeps these in mind when he treats a patient.