INTRODUCTION (Final)

FORTUNE TELLING:

METHODS, THEMES ANDTHE PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS

A Research Paper Presented to 

Sir Dustin Celestino 

Asia Pacific College 

Magallanes, Makati City 

In Partial Fulfillment 

of the Requirements for the Course 

RESWRIT – Research Writing 

Alpha Mae T. Pedralvez

October 2012

 

Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

A.   Background of the Study

There are people who desire to reveal everything that are hidden. Some are discontented for chasing and knowing the secrets of life. One of things a person enjoys to reveal is fortune or destiny which will never be shown until the right time. What make life interesting and exciting are the mysteries of fortune or destiny. People look for tendencies to reveal the secrets of life and this is the start of the art of practicing to predict one’s future. The answer to the curiosity of some people is fortune telling.

One of the most difficult areas within psychology to study is paranormal belief. A huge part of this difficulty lies in its lack of standard definition. “A paranormal belief is defined on a working basis as a proposition that has not been empirically attested to the satisfaction of the scientific establishment but is generated within the nonscientific community and extensively endorsed by people who might normally be expected by their society to be capable of rational thought and reality testing.” (Irwin,2009).  The understanding of paranormal belief is still unclear as a single definition of paranormal belief has yet to be widely accepted by the psychological community.

According to existing literature, fortune telling is considered to include a number of different paranormal items that can, supposedly, allow a fortune teller special knowledge about the future; such items include psychic ability, extra sensory perception (ESP) and many different divinatory arts (e.g. cartomancy, astrology, palmistry, crystallomancy etc.) (Irwin, 2009). This has led to a simple understanding of fortune telling where, according to parapsychological research, belief in fortune telling is constituted as belief that abilities to read or foretell the future are real or genuine.

According to Ed Beckham Ph.D. on anxiety, “fortune telling is a type of worrying in which person’s project negative outcomes into the future. They worry about what might happen as if it were a foregone conclusion or as if it had already happened. As a result, these types of thought causes people to feel anxious and upset about something that has not happened and may never happen.”

Many people affirm their fortune tellers while others regard it as a pseudoscience. However, it is extremely popular across all cultures and religions. History is complete with unreliable cases proving the truth of such readings. There are various reasons attributed to their accuracy are: Ambiguity is a key characteristic of predictions. If one goes wrong, the blame lies with the interpretation and not with the prediction. The need for confirmation forces people to look for instances when the predictions have borne fruit. Predictions result in lowering of fear and anxiety of the unknown. Predictions are an amusing diversion from the daily hustle activities of life. Guesswork on the part of the teller, based on incomplete shards of information helps in soothing one’s deepest fears so that a heavy burden is lifted. A person returns from a reading in a relaxed state of mind.

The known reasons for their accuracy are:  The Forer effect refers to the tendency of people to rate sets of statements as highly accurate for them personally even though the statements could apply to many people. (The Skeptic’s Dictionary) Cold reading is the ability to gain information about someone without that person realizing that they are actually giving up the information themselves. This is achieved using a series of tricks and psychological manipulations to coax information out of the interviewee, and then to pass it off as being generated by psychic powers or other means. (RationalWiki) And a self-fulfilling prophecy in which a person may modify his future course of action keeping his prediction in mind. It may come true as a result of his altered actions. When an individual divines for himself, it is a way of organizing his own chain of thought.

According to Alexander Caillet’s the Thinking Path, it holds that thoughts (including assumptions and beliefs) produce feelings, which produce behaviors, which produce results. Emotions are connected with behavior but not all people behave similarly with the same emotion. Handling emotions and how one can behave towards it has a crucial effect on success and better decision making.

Overall mind state and behavior has a certain nature founded mainly on the types of ideas or thoughts a person thinks. Looking into the thoughts of depressed person, there would be one saddening thought following another. When a person looks at the past, there is regret, at the present, something is most often disappointing and in the future there is anxiety or pessimism.

It has its benefits which include lessening of anxiety levels. A major flip side to this coin is that it may stimulate acute depression if the predictions are unexpected and untruthful. A person with a strong belief and who works with principles can avoid being absorbed into the nasty circle of fortune telling.

This study does not deal with the issue on accuracy of fortune telling, this paper focuses on its effect on human mind and behavior.

B.   Statement of the Problem

This study aims to answer this question:

1.    What are the psychological effects of fortune telling to people?

C.   Significance of the Study

Fortune telling enthusiasts. This research paper would be able to help fortune telling enthusiasts in learning more about the unconscious effects to human mind and behavior of fortune telling as a primary  distortion that sparks anxiety or the reverse which include reduction of anxiety levels and on how deal with the happiness or anxiety brought by predictions.

College Students taking up the course BS in Psychology. This research paper would be beneficial to college students taking up the course BS in Psychology because it is in line with their specialization. Through this research, they will acquire practical knowledge and can serve as a reference or guide in understanding rational situations.

Future researchers. The research would be able to provide future researchers essential information and ideas which can serve as their guide for development of the paper. This would allow them to furnish additional data that would be valuable for the study.

D.   Scope and Delimitation

This study focuses on the psychological effects of fortune telling to people. Psychological effects and psychology are being ruminated because it primarily analyzes who and what we are, why we are like that, why we act and think like that and how we can improve ourselves.

This study briefly discusses some of the methods of fortune telling such as cartomancy, astrology, palmistry and crystallomancy to consider people’s view on fortune telling. This gives emphasis on three themes to classify fortune telling namely: fortune telling as business, fortune telling as fraud and fortune telling as counseling.

The study does not include the mystical effects of fortune telling. It does not count the concept of whether or not the paranormal phenomenon currently attributed to it is actually real or fake.

E.    Materials and Methods

This paper utilizes a descriptive method since the researcher aims to provide the psychological effects of fortune telling. This method is defined as a process involving the collection of data in order to test hypothesis or to answer questions concerning the current status of the subject of the study (Gay 1976).

Discourse analysis method will also be employed and it is defined as a qualitative method that has been adopted and developed by social constructionists. According to Dr. Eamon Fulcher it is based on some basic assumptions: Psychologists cannot be objective when studying human behavior. In the scientific approach there is the belief that knowledge can be gained by objectivity, reality is socially constructed and people are the products of social interaction. The concept is discussed in early discursive psychology by Potter and Wetherill (1987), “compare different people’s attitudes to the same object” (p. 50). However, Potter and Wetherill point out that “sameness of wording does not necessarily mean that respondents will understand the terms or formulate the object of thought in an identical way” (p.52).

Different respondents may have different perceptions and understandings of the object being discussed. There is no assurance that each respondent will react to the object in the same way. To combat this problem, the researcher needs a better understanding of how people constitute, or construct and behave and think about, the objects that they profess belief in.

This paper gathered relevant information from various reference materials such as refereed articles, books, publications in press, blogs and other online resources, surveys and interviews.

F.    Definition of Terms

Paranormal is a general term that designates experiences that lie outside "the range of normal experience or scientific explanation" or that indicates phenomena understood to be outside of science's current ability to explain or measure.

Fortune telling is the practice of predicting the future, usually of an individual, through seemingly mystical or supernatural means.

Psychology is the scientific study of human and animal behavior with the object of understanding why living beings behave as they do.

Psychic ability is term as the “sixth sense”, It is a sense outside of our five physical senses - sight, sound, touch, taste and smell. Others may refer to this sense as a “metaphysical” ability.

Extrasensory perception (ESP) involves reception of information not gained through the recognized physical sense but sensed with the mind.

Cartomancy is fortune-telling or divination using a deck of cards.

Astrology is fortune telling by using the movement of celestial bodies.

Palmistry or chiromancy is the art of characterization and foretelling the future through the study of the palm, also known as palm reading, or chirology.

Crystallomancy is a form of divination or scrying achieved through trance induction by means of gazing at a crystal globe, a pool of water, a mirror, or any transparent object.

Political Fortune Telling

One of company’s strategies to increase their sales and have an advantage over their competitors to win over their consumers is to have an advertisement. Advertisement promotes the product of the company so that many people will come and try it. Advertisement is everywhere, from televisions, radios, billboards and internet. An advertisement contains the power if it easily catches your attention.

The famous philosopher Aristotle stated the simple truth when he said centu­ries ago that man is "a political animal". Politics has encompasses every sphere of life, and the number of politicians has grown beyond measure. There is politics everywhere, in government generally, in the administration, in schools, colleges, universities, and even in sports and games. People in politics possess power and the higher the rank the superior and getter power you have.

Nowadays, political dynasty has becoming very rampant in our government. It does not mean that because the father is a good leader so is his son, daughter, wife or any other family members. There would be no issue here if they can prove themselves as a good leader but what if it’s the other way around? And what if the father is not a good leader, there can be a big possibility that the descendants vying will also be like him if they have the position. 

In a larger scale, Obama is the President of United States, many fortune tellers claimed that before the start of the year they already predicted that Obama will win and still become the President of US. Let’s see what will happen as the Election Day is approaching.

I have read an article entitled “Fortune teller, driver, engineer also vie for Manila mayorship” by Erika Sauler. The article is about a psychic running for the post of Manila mayor and filed certificate of candidacy, or COC.

In my own point of view, it’s good that there are people who have the courage to file for candidacy but the problem here is you will compete with people who have already build a name in politics. There is a very small chance for new candidates to win thus they cannot prove themselves. And we Filipinos just go always go back to our history thus sometimes there were no improvements. Because he is a psychic and he run for candidacy, had he predicted what can he do for the betterment or he is just there to mock the election process and be known even just for a few time. Had he predicted to win the position?

If other politicians consult fortune tellers to ask about their standing, whether they will win or lose. I have articles about Pnoy consulting a fortune teller about his love life, but the latest was entitled “Pnoy shares thoughts on marriage” by Genalyn Kabiling. One of the articles stated that Pnoy will consult a fortune teller regarding his love life and he wanted to have the answer as soon as possible. And in the latest article Pnoy stated that “After this, I will look for a fortune teller to know when this (honeymoon) will happen”.

In my own view, people even rich or poor, famous or not, powerful or not in some way believe and wanted to seek consultation of fortune tellers because they already became a part of the society. In addition, people against it supports its unlawfulness by saying that it may be merely a way of reducing anxiety among people or a source of entertainment and because predictions usually use vague words, they never lend themselves to falsification. But the problem is having a fortuneteller for fraud especially if they may also be used by some biased political forces to appeal to the decision to be made.

We cannot erase the fact there are people who really take seriously the predictions of their fortune tellers especially if they have believe and faith on them. But in my own opinion, the problem only arises if the predictions can terribly affect one’s feeling which reflect to his unpleasant behavior or actions and poor decision making for his progress.

End of the World

Education should empower us humans. Education provides us more choices and chances to make a difference for our community. Education pays us back for it offers a happier and easy life. Our pursuit for knowledge is something we should never end; it is a desire that we should never avoid.

For other people, fortune telling or predictions are beneficial, for some it is just all right while some treat it as evil especially those who are God fearing. Just like education there are people who would be willing to pay for information especially if it is about their future. But would still be willing to pay for knowledge about the end of the world?

People are either wondering or fearful about death. The death of a person is very terrifying but the end of the universe and human race is even beyond imagination. Humankind has been searching for information on how the world started and now some are wondering on how and when it will end.

"Satan disguises himself as an angel of light, therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness" (2 Corinthians 11:14-15) I read about this article entitled “Prophecies” by Nestor Mata. This article is about the famous Nostradamus and some of his predictions.

Nostradamus is probably the most famous fortune teller for he is highly regarded by historians, astrologers and psychics who found many revelations in his book entitled “The Prophecies”. Many would be willing to buy his book no matter how expensive it would be.

According to the article, many of his predictions regarding the Second World War, Hitler and global catastrophes, were proven true. And, more important for all of us today, he also made predictions of what’s going to happen in the world this year of 2012! 

"Beasts ferocious with hunger will cross the rivers.

The greater part of the battlefield will be against Hister.

Into a cage of iron will the great one be drawn

When the child of Germany observes nothing."

Believers of Nostradamus usually translate the second line of this stanza to read: "The greater part of the battlefield will be against Hitler." They argue that "Hister" was just a code name for Hitler!

Nostradamus’ quatrain (rhyming verses with four lines each) works are creative but unclear. According to my study, the original book containing his quatrains was written in French. On my own point of view, there might already be a difference between the old French in the 16^th century compared to the new one. Language is also vulnerable for changes. These small changes might cause a big impact on the translation of the works of Nostradamus. There are also many internet translations of the quatrains of Nostradamus but it is false because some of the lines are already made up by the translator just to connect certain happenings.  

On the other side, if they will show you one of his quatrains and explain you about its relation in the event of the past (like the one on top) you might easily believe because there are also some words (Hisler-Hitler) that somehow connects and is related with the past especially if you do not have enough knowledge of some words (Hisler).

According to the article, in one of his quatrains, Nostradamus wrote: “In the sky will be seen a great fire dragging a trail of sparks,” a line that that many modern-day interpreters say is a comet the size of a little less than the planet Jupiter, and that if it passes the earth it might cause an asteroid to shift course and impact the earth and cause massive destruction. 
The article also stated that Nostradamus painted a bleak picture of massive destruction and havoc brought about by a comet that will strike the earth or pass very close to our planet and cause massive earthquakes and other cataclysmic occurrences somewhere in December 2012.

I remembered many other predictions about the end of the world, but the said date had just passed. But the date of the prediction of the famous Nostradamus is yet to come. No one knows if it will really happen. Some do believe and some do not.

For my part, I do not believe with the prediction because what I believe on is what the bible states, that there is a rainbow because the world will never be ruined by God again. But I do believe that there will really be earthquakes, war, flood and other catastrophes because these are because of the nature of the earth and there are people who do not know how to take care and respect mother earth and other people.

In my own point of view, everything is on the saying, “mind over matter”. If you believe and think that the world will end, then it might just cause you fear and panic but other behave differently by doing all the things they want to do, preparing spiritually or religiously or to spend all the money that a person has or enjoy the life more. What is important is to always give your best, enjoy life to the fullest and take good care of God’s creation.

Outline of Research Paper

Fortune Telling

• ·         Methods and themes of fortune telling
• ·         Generalized methods
• ·         Fortune telling as: business, fraud and counseling
• ·         The effect of it on people
• ·         The psychological effect of fortune telling on people

Fortune Telling

I.                    Methods of fortune telling

A.      Cartomancy

B.      Astrology

C.      Palmistry

D.      Crystallomancy

II.                  Themes of fortune telling

A.      Fortune telling as business

B.      Fortune telling as fraud

C.      Fortune telling as counseling

III.                The psychological effects of fortune telling

Quiapo Fortune Telling Peripheries

“In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the moneychangers at their business. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all, with the sheep and oxen, out of the temple; and he poured out the coins of the moneychangers, and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, ‘Take these things away; you shall not make my Father’s house a house of trade.’” —John 2:14-16

It was like a scene taken from the Bible itself. The Philippines is proudly known to be one of the Christian nations in Asia. The sides of the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene, Quiapo Church are occupied with all that is pagan and unchristian. Rainbow colored candles, herbs and others as well pirated DVDs, many sold by local Muslims, prayers for hire and fortune telling.

But then again, the church itself is home to a most pagan tradition the Black Nazarene that attracts a fanatical group of devotees. And “pagan” is not a bad word. It is better that it be known as “indigenous Filipino and Asian beliefs.” That we practice Christianity in a very Filipino way is a successful subversion of a colonial tool. If Christ were here today, perhaps he would be cracking the whip inside the church. He may even go out to do some shopping.

On these past few days, I read about an article entitled “Madame Delea: Quiapo soothsayer” written by Dennis Villegas. The article is about an interview of one of the fortune tellers in the famous Quiapo church which reflects the scene from the bible to what is the reality at this moment.

According to the article, many of the fortune-tellers in Quiapo are old and middle-aged women, although there are also a few young women in their thirties, as well as some middle-aged men. In my own point of view, the age of the fortune teller matters because we have that impression that an old woman seemed more experienced and realistic in terms of her predictions compared to younger women and men.

“She told me that her gift of prophecy came from Senor Nazareno. Apparently, she started divination as a teen-ager, reading palms and numbers associated with people. She gained a following and eventually settled in Plaza Miranda in 1980, because the place was already known as the center of divination in downtown Manila.”

For me, many would want to be known as naturally gifted, they are quick to credit their supernatural powers to their patron saints. I really don’t believe that the gift of prophecy came from Senor Nazareno for the reason that other fortune tellers also claim that their gift is from Senor Nazareno and because they will easily deceive the people in that place for they are devotees of the Senor. Since Madame started at a very young age, I assume she either learned from family elders who were also practitioners or developed her skills by merely watching and receiving teachings from seasoned fortune tellers.

"You're lucky!" She declared to me. "You have a bright future. Your business will become prosperous, you will have many employees!" Indeed, I felt I was lucky even though I don't have a business and a single employee. Yet I felt I must believe her, so I can justify taking the risk of being caught by friends consulting a fortune-teller. Reading this part of the article made my belief even stronger that their predictions are not true, that they are not authentic fortune tellers. I believe that they are acting as if they are reliable for business or money.  

From what I understand, most of these fortune tellers of Quiapo advised their customers to follow their own path to salvation. Fortune telling in Quiapo is like an instinctive scam. But it can be a therapy for it has possible answers to one’s dilemma or questions which provide relief and hope to a person which can be associated with that of religion.

Kahlil Gibran once remarked, "We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them." I have realized that I should fill my mind with whatever I wanted to happen in the future. Therefore, some of those developed thoughts are bound to become actual experiences. These fortune tellers of Quiapo proved me of the truth of the old saying that thoughts do, in fact, manifest themselves.

Media and Stardom

We are in a global and digital informational age where newspapers, radios, televisions and computers will always be there to provide reports or news. The word media came from the word medium which means mode or the effecting or conveying of something (Merriam Webster Dictionary). The tasks of media are to entertain, inform and educate people. It helps us to be aware of the current issues in the society. So, the media plays a vital role in strengthening the society because it has a strong social and cultural impact on them. And because media has been treated with almost equal importance with food and clothing, it then became a tool to carry out messages or opinion to the public.

When I was a kid, the sky is the limit to my dreams. Like most of the people dream about, I also dream for fame and from fame comes the money. And the most possible way to fame is to be well-known in terms of your career especially in the field of talents such as singing, dancing and most especially acting.

When I ask any one to name as many celebrities as he can, I think a whole sheet of yellow pad paper would not be enough.  I think the media constantly pay great attention to celebrities and I think it is because one of their tasks is to entertain or pleased audience taste and gossips are one of the favorites of some people. No wonder sometimes we feel we just know more than those famous people than themselves.

People of different races and status in life seek for fortune tellers. Do you know that politicians and celebrities consult fortune teller?  The article that I’ve read is entitled “Filipino Celebrity Predictions of 2012” by Edumbao. In this article, the famous Boy Abunda of the talk show “The Buzz” interviewed Filipino soothsayers Bro Mon and stargazers for the predictions of different Filipino celebrities and famous personalities. This includes Vice Ganda, Anne Curtis, Piolo Pascual, and many others.

Those predictions mentioned will only serve as precautions for the celebrities involved to take care of themselves and should make important decisions in life.

I am certain that you know Kris Aquino, the queen of all media and the youngest sister of the Pres. Noynoy. An article entitled “Psychic: Kris Aquino will tie a not in 2012”. Kris reveals that a Thai fortune teller’s prediction is she will have a boyfriend by December 10, 2012 and will be married on April next year.

According to the article, To make this prediction a reality, though, Kontong urged Aquino to take more trips abroad since she will meet the next man in her life in one of her travels”. Aquino believes Kontong’s predictions are possibly “more accurate” given that he doesn’t know her personally which means “hindi niya ako pwedeng bolahin.”

Well, I find it like reasonable or common sense that if you have many trips outside the country, you will meet many foreigner because even you just stay here in the Philippines, you may encounter many foreigners. But in the other side, there is really what we call destiny, if it is for then it is really for you.

I don’t think this is not a good explanation for Kris to reason out that because he doesn’t know her personally which means “hindi niya ako pwedeng bolahin.” Yes, many fortune tellers are saying what the client wants to hear—that the loved one also secretly loves her/him, that the lost loved one or property will ultimately come back or be found, that good fortune is just around the corner, just be patient, etc., etc., they give the client hope and he/she does not fall into despair or sadness. Considering as well that we are in a highly advanced computer world where one can search or investigate about you and your personality online with so much information and opinions of other people especially if you are in stardom.

In conclusion, media especially televisions, newspapers and magazines need these celebrities to attract people. Otherwise, they cannot survive. They give so much publicity to predictions of celebrities; people might get used to forecasting their favorite celebrity and might think that it is the right thing to do and will also want to consult fortune tellers like what their idol is doing.

Media also give so much publicity to different prophecies of people such as war, tsunami, earthquakes or even the end of the world. For me, they are all in general terms and can be interpreted in the way you wanted to. I think to provide fear and panic should also be included in the tasks of media. J

Predictions

To some people gambling is just for fun and for waste of time. Gambling is different from those typical games because it entails the use of money. But they have the same nature as having winners and losers.

Life is beautiful but not always easy, there are challenges which you need to face with determination and courage. Life is full of moments of happiness, success and contentment but there are also times of sadness, failure and discontentment. Life is just like a game or a gamble. There are moments of winning and losing, of ups and downs. And you cannot know what might happen in the next round.

When I was in my grade school years, I used to make these colorful paper fortune tellers. 

It is exciting for it answers questions such as, will you be rich someday, what might be your career, who likes and even hates you. Whenever I try this, there are times that I like the results of paper but there are times that I don’t.

Predictions about us will not always be positive. Just like this article that I read which is entitled “When the fortune teller makes an unfavorable prediction about your future.” by the author named Yin. This article is about her personal experience with a quite known fortune teller.

Years ago, she and her friends went to visit a fortune teller because of their curiosity. They were then just a couple of young girls eager to find out about what life have in stall for them.  When it was her turn, the fortune teller said that she would not live past a certain age. But it can be prevented by making her eyebrows thicker by applying olive oil or hair tonic. If you will be warned like Yin, will you believe? What will you do, will you take it seriously?

For me, this portion of the article showed the disadvantage of the curiosity of people and even of fortune tellers. Fortune tellers should limit themselves about certain matters like death because this might affect one’s living for this kind of prediction can cause disturbance on life of a person who believed in them.

At first, the writer was worried that it might come true. But eventually, she decided to make life meaningful- to live it as well as to use her time on earth to contribute in any way that she can, just in case if the predictions may turn out to be true. 

In my standpoint, I really adore the writer for her decision. And if I were on her shoes, I think I will also do the same. I’ll enjoy every second of my life, to live life to the fullest. Because many of us assume that we will live longer and we are not prepared for this thing to happen. So, we tend to live our life because of fun or enjoyment without thinking to use our gifts, skills and abilities to help change lives of other people for their betterment.

To end the story, according to the writer “last year was the year that the fortune teller predicted I may not survive. Nope, I still did not manage to make my eyebrows thicker.  But if I had not met him, I would not push myself out of my comfort zone and stop taking life for granted.”

Based on my own opinion, I would say there are times when we forget the real essence of life; this is to share everything we have and lend our hands to people who needed help and expect nothing in return.

Life is wonderful just as roses but it has challenges which are like thorns and have to be faced and overcome by all. Those, who accept these, challenges and succeed, are the ones, who know how to live life in its true sense. Thus, enjoy life but also be prepared to bear the pricks of pain.

Challenges or unfavorable predictions might always come our way but it will not be certainly bad or awful, it all depends on how we see things and on how we face them. These weakening matters are always there not to damage our character but help us to be stronger and more confident. In life, we don’t know how it would end but we know how to make it better.

Horoscope: The 13th Zodiac Sign

Internet contains the entire topics that are ready to satisfy and entertain you. You can just choose a topic and there are also related links presented. Luckily, we have this kind of technological advancement in which little browsing gives you so much information on your field of interest and on which you can work with. 

Knowing about your future and predicting the results of your actions and challenges in your life has been at the back of every person’s mind in gathering information. And I would like to cite of about fortune telling. Some people of different times of life are eager to know about their future or destiny and to answer why certain things happen in their lives. The field of fortune telling, horoscope does not only foretell events but also awaken a special interest about human nature.

Browsing the internet gives you many meaning of the word horoscope, but they all mean the same thing. Horoscope literally means 'hour scope'. There is also a transit chart based on day-to-day or future positions of heavenly bodies. Symbols are used to represent planets, signs, and geometric connections called aspects. It has developed from the branch of astrology.

Most probably every individual in this society has his/her own Facebook account. And whenever I open my account, I can see lot of my FB friends having their horoscope on their profile. Even in some radio stations and newspapers, reading the horoscope will always be present. As some do every day, you run your finger down the list until you reach the section that deals with your sign.  Virgo... Libra... Scorpio... Ophiuchus (???!)

I remembered the news about the 13^th astrological symbol. Then, I tried searching about it, I encountered this news article entitled Astronomer realigns astrological calendar, adding 13th horoscope sign by Michael Vasquez. According to the article, an instructor named Parke Kunkle of Minneapolis Community and Technical College is the man responsible for momentarily turning the astrology world upside down. "Ophiuchus has been around a long time, and the sun has been going through Ophiuchus for thousands of years." “As for the inclusion of Ophiuchus, Brock said "we've always known about Ophiuchus'' but that because constellation only barely touches the sun's path, it is not truly a zodiac sign.”

Should this 13^th Zodiac sign be adopted? I don’t think people will desire to be a part of this symbol because some superstitious people believed that number 13 is unlucky. People who have embraced their zodiac characteristics and become somewhat dependent to horoscopes would strongly believe that this is wrong. It will also be a real annoyance for people who made their zodiac sign as their symbol like those who are tattooed with their former zodiac sign.

Based on my further readings about this news, majority of what I read said that this does not make sense because it is just a constellation. And according to Michel Erlewine, “If we want to be fair, we should also include the Constellation Cetus (The Whale) because it actually is closer to the Ecliptic (Earth’s path) than is Aries. And the constellation Auriga is also right next to the Ecliptic. So if you want to have 13 zodiac signs, you might as well have 15 zodiac signs to be fair.” But assuming this will be true, will you be worried? Will you fight or switch?

“Kunkle noted that he's by no means the first member of the scientific community to raise this issue (it's been debated for thousands of years). But thanks to the Twittering, Facebooking age we live in, he might just be the most famous.” Kunkle has never been a horoscope reader. When people ask his sign, he usually tells them "vegetarian."

Reading these parts from the article, I think this issue doesn’t mean anything. Everyone’s zodiac sign has not changed. So if you are a Libra today, no worries because you will still face tomorrow as a Libra and not once you will wake up as Ophiuchus.

In my own point of view, there are people who do everything just to catch the attention of the people and become famous even for just a week. There are people who assume they understand certain things when they really don’t.

Changes on some methods of fortune telling might give worries to other people who are greatly trusting on it. Horoscope is already a part of other people’s life and issues like this might have a strong impact on them. So, we should learn to listen just to the experts and we should not believe on everything we see and hear until we checked in with facts.