Filter Coffee #024

On Astrology, Faith and Grifts

Dear Friends, 

I’m happy to see that 🔗 FC #23 was well received. Many found the write-up on ‘Partnership & Partnering’ very easy to comprehend and made very good observations. Of course, not all partnerships are doomed from the beginning. My friend Kasliwal in Mumbai tells me that his father ran a business in partnership with another person for over 30 years without any hitch. 

Another reader commented that he has an unshakable faith in human integrity and his failures are relatable to the bad choices he made and not to loss of faith. I reckon this reader holds himself responsible for the choices he made and prefers not to hold the persons that he chose to deal with responsible for the consequences.

In this week’s issue, I would like to dwell on the ancient art and science of astrology and palmistry, and how it has been a modality of malpractice by unscrupulous and amateur palmists.

If you’ve been enjoying Filter Coffee, do share it with your friends, family, and coworkers!

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✨ Put faith in your own abilities and not in the stars

~ a Japanese proverb

All of us, to varying degrees, either trust in ‘stars and signs’ to some extent or rubbish the belief.

Zodiac signs, planetary movements, stars, horoscopes and palmistry have their share of faithfuls. Superstitions and other native practices of forecasting the future add another dimension to this overcrowded space.

There are many self-proclaimed fortune-tellers who have the uncanny knack of narrating your past and perhaps a bit of the present, and psych you into believing their forecast of your future. Some of them fleece you after foretelling your future, and you are left wondering why the forecast did not mention the cash outflow! Then you tell yourself “a fool and his money are easily parted.”

Then there are those who claim to predict what is in store for you. They may tell you that you will land a job overseas, for example, and when you find yourself working on a cruise ship, you tell yourself, how true the prediction turned out to be! This reminds me of an anecdote where an astrologer reading the palm of the father predicts that his son will be dealing in lakhs of rupees and lo and behold, the father was aghast when his son became a cashier in a bank!

Another form of mind game is when the fortune teller forecasts horrible times ahead and asks you to perform certain rites to pacify the angry stars. They may ask you to wear a couple of rings encrusted with a certain kind of stone or wear a Kada made of a certain metal on your wrist. Of course, the worst and most barbaric act of future forecast is to advise someone to commit a heinous act of sacrifice in order to attain something or avert something. We have seen many reports of such instances. Reprehensible.

According to jothishi.com, palmistry and astrology are quite scientific. Palmistry is the art of reading the lines on your hand and even the head and feet, while astrology is about preparing a horoscope based on some information like date and time of birth. If interested, one must choose a palmist or astrologer carefully after doing a lot of background checking ahead of the endeavor.

Speaking of heads, I’m not sure if anyone has perfected the art of reading what’s written on the head — which in Kannada is ‘hane baraha’ and in Tamil ‘thalai eluthu’. Interestingly, as far as I am aware, both these expressions are used by people when something ominous has occurred or is going to occur, in their lives, or when they are empathising with someone else’s fate. I have not come across people who have used these expressions when something good has happened.

There are some individuals and institutions who even today practice them as a science. According to the website, palmistry depends on personal interpretations. Though there are some basic principles that all palmists must follow. Two palm readers may see a line from different angles. On the other hand, astrology is a completely scientific way of making a prediction. No one can claim that these predictions are going to be 100 percent true but chances are that astrology will be more accurate than palmistry. The reason being, astrological results are obtained through a lot of specific calculations — it’s less open to interpretation.

A horoscope is typically drawn up at birth. It is not unusual for people to get their horoscope drawn later in life but that would be more like ignoring the past and trying to foresee what the future has in store for that person. I have personally known a situation when a person got a horoscope written (on a well-preserved paper that had turned yellow) to prove the date of birth and get a birth certificate on the back of it. 

Before one embarks on an inquisitive pursuit of what the future holds — whether in your hand or in a horoscope, one should carefully consider the pros and cons and one's own ability to deal with what is revealed. There are umpteen instances of people not being able to deal with bad news and falling into a kind of depression. Likewise, news of something good happening lulls one into the belief that it will happen without any effort on one’s part.

Do you recall an Indian astrologer mapping the planetary movements and proclaiming that Trump will win? Hmmm...

Imagine a person who is told that he will beget a child if he performs ‘putrakameshti yagna’ and yet after performing that ritual at significant cost his wish remains unfulfilled. He will not only curse his fate but blame everybody around him. But it will never occur to him that it is in his hands to make that prophecy come true by adopting a child. 

🍵 Tasseography

Tasseography is the art of reading tea leaves which originated many centuries ago in China and is not very popular among people in India.  Tasseography is also the art of reading coffee grounds. Interestingly both readings are not intended to give you bad news but only good news. The logic being, a cup of coffee or tea brings joy and not sadness.

If you wish to know more or want to try out reading the tea leaves please visit 🔗 this website.

🦜 Parrot Card

When we were very young we used to be fascinated by a parrot coming out of its cage and picking one of the many cards laid out by its handler and it would contain some forecast of what is in store. As kids, we used to sit around the person and watch people paying one anna to check what is in store for them. This, I think, was as reliable as what you read on the little slips in fortune cookies. Imagine if you are paying a bill in a Chinese restaurant and the slip you got says, “You are in for a treat”!

🎴 Tarot Cards 

This system uses a set of 78 cards in five suits, divided into 22 major cards called the Trumps or Arcana, and 56 minor cards further divided into 4 suits of 14 cards each. These suits are called Wands, Swords, Cups and Pentacles (Coins inscribed with a pentagon). Just like playing cards, they are numbered Ace to 10 and then Page, Night, Queen and King.  

The 22 trump cards carry the images of Fool, Magician, High Priestess, The Empress and so on. These symbols are thought to have originated in China, India or Egypt, though the cards themselves are European in origin. The cards are drawn, read and interpreted to gain insight into relationships, opportunities, and life changes. The Fool card, for example, could mean beginnings, opportunity, and portentional when the card is drawn upright. But when reversed (upside down), the same card could be interpreted more negatively —  you may not be aware of the consequences of your actions so look before you leap! Our very dear friend Kamala Ramana is a Tarot Card reader though I have never tried it myself. If you’d like to know more about the practice, visit 🔗 this website.

🔮 Crystal Gazing

Crystal Gazing, commonly associated with the Romani people, has been widely researched and there’s no conclusive evidence that what you see in the sphere of glass is what is in store for you in the future.  It is believed that these people migrated from India to various parts of Europe during the middle ages, where they were sought after by people wishing to peep into the future or use it as a medium for ‘scrying’, which actually means seeing the unseen or peeping into that medium to look for messages or visions.  It is believed that what one sees is what one would like to see and could be induced by self-hypnosis. But it is quite popular among people either because they believe in it or because they are just plain curious to experience the gazing. Some believe that if a person is amenable to the power of suggestion he or she may experience the illusion of seeing what they were told they would see in the crystal. 

Crystal balls are not necessarily made of crystals but are invariably spherical in shape and transparent. Some claim that the ball itself does nothing more than relax the mind of the scryer, allowing him or her to fall into a trance-like state. It is in the trance that the scryer might experience visions or insights. If you are interested in learning more please visit 🔗 this website.

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In conclusion, I would say don’t live in the past, live the present and take one day at a time. If you worry about all three, then you have past-tense, present-tense & future-tense! Why get tense at all? For that matter, even about Covid! This too shall pass. Vaccination is on the way. 

Stay with the Mask and Social distancing! See you next week, and until then take care!