Just for a second, take yourself back to the elementary school playground. Do you remember how easy it was to be a psychic when you were a child? By folding a sheet of a blank paper, labeling sections with colors and numbers and choosing your own messages to put beneath the flaps, you became a fortune teller on the playground. Perhaps you believed it was fate when your friend played the game and the message revealed, “A boy in your class likes you,” became true later in the day. And while your fortunes were not always accurate, you continued to play for the thrilling possibility that you could tell the future.
The future can be scary, exciting, confusing and exhilarating, but knowing the future — that’s powerful. For this week’s magic issue, I wanted to learn the “magical” predictions of my future using palm reading and horoscopes. While I am more skeptical than I was 10 years ago, I hope I can still be a fortune teller in some aspect.
After some simple googling, I learned how to interpret the fate inscribed in the palm of my hand. According to WikiHow’s article “How to Read Palms” instructions, I was able to identify my heart, head, life and fate lines. According to the website, for females, the left hand represents what you’ve accumulated throughout your life. My heart line begins below my middle finger and is long and curvy, showing that I am selfish when it comes to love and I freely express my emotions. My head line is sloping and separated from my life line, signifying my creativity and adventure or enthusiasm for life. The length and semi-circle shape of my life line around my thumb reflects vitality, strength and enthusiasm. While my fate line is more difficult to see, I match it with the description of breaking and changing of direction; therefore, I am prone to many changes in life from external forces.
I can’t help but agree with the results that I am creative and adventurous with a constantly changing life, but isn’t that description true for a lot of people? From reading through the meanings behind different line shapes, it almost feels like I could find a way to justify any of the correlating characteristics. I am certain that I have a short attention span, but I do not have a wavy head line like the palm reading suggests I should. On the other hand, some interpretations eerily match my life accurately. A small circle mark on the life line can indicate an injury or hospitalization. I lack this mark and have also never broken a bone, been seriously injured or hospitalized (knock on wood).
The birth of astrology and zodiac signs occurred in the fourth century B.C. with the ancient Babylonians. The labeling of signs into four groups, Fire, Air, Earth and Water, also dates back to the origins of astronomy, which parallel the origins of astrology. Contrary to our modern society with its updated technology, many people still trust and use these mythical systems of prediction. Horoscope readings pervade many mainstream websites and news sources and professional astrologers still work, considering their work both a science and an art.
After reading my horoscope on multiple websites for different periods of time, such as my daily, weekly and yearly predictions, I find it hard to believe that they can be truly accurate. Similar to the palm reading, many of my horoscopes sound like they could apply to anyone. According to Elle Magazine, this Friday, I “can finally get resolution on a long-standing family feud or roommate clash. But not if you continue to sweep it under the kilim!” Another website known as the Astrology Club predicts that “Taurus, in 2017 you could become involved in some new venture that will or may give you more independence, but in the meantime you may want to keep these things under wraps.” By “new venture” I am assuming they are talking about attending college, but maybe there is something else that will arise.
Horoscopes are also known for predicting relationship compatibility, so I decided to try this with my friends. One of my best friends is a Scorpio, and one online test says we have a compatibility of 89 percent. However, another one of my close friends is a Sagittarius, and we only have a compatibility overall score of 31 percent. As someone who loves to procrastinate, I look forward to checking my weekly horoscope on Mondays when Cosmopolitan magazine offers them in their Snapchat “Discover” page. Despite being unsure if the predictions ever come true, like many other people, I still eagerly scroll down to find my sign, Taurus.
Overall, I consider fortune telling to be extremely interesting, yet I still find myself skeptical. While perhaps my palm is correctly telling my future and parts of my weekly horoscope may come true, I am only sure of one thing in my future: unpredictability. As much as I would like technology to make the future easier to foresee, there is something calming in knowing that no one knows what to expect.
