Types of Fortune Telling and Their Origins

Coffee reading

Origin

Usually linked to Ottoman Istanbul, but no document shows this. Coffee itself came from Abyssinia (Ethiopia) and Yemen.

When

After coffee reached Istanbul in the 16th century. When the practice began is not documented.

How it is done

The coffee is drunk, a wish is made and the cup is turned upside down onto its saucer; once it has cooled, the cup is read first, then the saucer.

Full history of Coffee reading →

Tea leaf reading

Origin

A folk tradition in England and Scotland.

When

After tea reached Britain in the mid-17th century; the known written records on the subject date from the 19th and 20th centuries.

How it is done

Loose-leaf tea is drunk, a little liquid is left at the bottom, the cup is turned three times and placed upside down on the saucer, and the leaves are read.

Tarot reading

Origin

Northern Italy (Milan, Ferrara, Florence, Bologna).

When

In the 1430s, as a card game. The earliest evidence of its use for fortune telling dates from around 1750; it became widespread in France in the 1780s.

How it is done

The deck is shuffled and the cards are laid out in a spread; each card is read through its meaning and its place in the spread.

Full history of Tarot reading →

Playing-card reading (cartomancy)

Origin

Playing cards: China (9th century); they reached Europe from Mamluk Egypt. Reading ordinary cards spread in 18th-century France.

When

One of the first books on card reading dates from 1770 (Etteilla).

How it is done

The deck is shuffled and cut, and the cards are laid out; the suits and the cards that fall side by side are interpreted.

Dice divination

Origin

Ancient Greece and Rome; its richest traces are dice-oracle inscriptions in southern Anatolia.

When

Antiquity; Pausanias describes it in the 2nd century AD, and the Anatolian inscriptions also date from the 2nd century AD.

How it is done

Dice or knucklebones are thrown; the total or combination of the numbers is matched to a list of interpretations.

Bean divination (bakla falı)

Origin

The ancient Near East and Central Asia; known as “kumalak” among Kazakhs, Kyrgyz and Uzbeks.

When

There is no documented starting date.

How it is done

In kumalak, 41 grains are divided into three piles, counted off in fours, and the remainders are laid out in a 3×3 grid.

Rune reading

Origin

Scandinavia and the Germanic world; runes are a writing system.

When

The Elder Futhark was used from the 2nd to the 8th century AD; today's rune-reading method is based on a book published in 1982.

How it is done

Runes are drawn from a bag or from a white cloth; one or three runes are read.

Palm reading

Origin

Unknown; it may have begun in India. It was known in China, Tibet, Persia, Mesopotamia and Egypt and developed in ancient Greece.

When

Antiquity. The oldest palmistry text in Europe dates from about 1160.

How it is done

The main lines (life, head, heart) and the mounts on the palm of the dominant hand are examined.

Full history of Palm reading →

Dream interpretation

Origin

Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt; later ancient Greece and the Islamic world.

When

One of the oldest surviving dream books is an Egyptian papyrus from about 1220 BC.

How it is done

The symbols and events seen in the dream are interpreted through their traditional meanings in dream books.

Full history of Dream interpretation →

Crystal ball

Origin

No single country; gazing into water, mirrors and shiny stones appears in many cultures.

When

Antiquity; it was widespread in the 5th century. The crystal ball became most popular in 19th-century England.

How it is done

The reader gazes quietly into the ball; tradition says the ball first clouds over and then images appear.

Full history of Crystal ball →

Zodiac signs and astrology

Origin

Babylon (Mesopotamia). Horoscopic astrology, based on the moment of birth, developed in Hellenistic Egypt, in Alexandria.

When

The twelve equal signs took shape in the 5th century BC; the oldest known personal horoscopes date from 410 BC.

How it is done

The Sun sign is found from the date of birth; for a detailed interpretation, a birth chart is drawn up using the time and place of birth.

Full history of Zodiac signs and astrology →

Rising sign (ascendant)

Origin

Hellenistic Egypt (Alexandria).

When

The 2nd or 1st century BC.

How it is done

The sign rising on the eastern horizon at the moment of birth is found using the time and place of birth.

Zodiac compatibility

Origin

Hellenistic astrology; the idea of comparing two people's birth charts.

When

In the 2nd century, Ptolemy considers two charts together in the “On marriage” chapter of the Tetrabiblos.

How it is done

The elements and planets of the two signs and their positions relative to each other are compared.

Full history of Zodiac compatibility →

Birth chart

Origin

Babylon and Hellenistic Egypt; the ascendant and the twelve houses developed around Alexandria.

When

The oldest known personal horoscopes date from 410 BC; horoscopic astrology developed in the 2nd or 1st century BC.

How it is done

The chart is drawn up from the date, time and place of birth. The Ottoman yıldızname books used the abjad values of names instead.

Full history of Birth chart →

Chinese zodiac

Origin

China.

When

The oldest lists of the twelve animals are in 3rd-century BC bamboo texts from the Qin period; their pairing with years became established in the Han period.

How it is done

The animal of the birth year is found according to the date of Chinese New Year; the element comes from the last digit of the year.

Numerology

Origin

Giving meaning to numbers is old in many cultures; today's numerology took shape in the USA in the early 20th century.

When

The modern system emerged in 1904–05 with the books of L. Dow Balliett.

How it is done

The letters, or the digits of the birth date, are added up and reduced to a single digit (11 and 22 are usually kept separate).

Angel numbers

Origin

The New Age movement in the USA.

When

Spread with the book Angel Numbers, published in 2005.

How it is done

A repeated number that keeps appearing (such as 111 or 444) is noticed, and the meaning given to it in the books is looked up.

Emoji reading

Origin

Japan; the first examples appeared on Japanese electronic devices and mobile phones.

When

First examples in the late 1980s; on mobile phones in 1997 (SoftBank) and 1999 (NTT Docomo); added to the Unicode standard in 2010.

How it is done

Three emoji that come to mind are chosen, and a symbolic interpretation of the choice is read. It is a modern digital game, not a traditional practice.