THE PAPER FORTUNE-TELLER
If you want to keep your New Year’s Eve prediction for the coming year very basic and easy, the paper fortune teller (aka, the ‘Cootie Catcher’ or Salt Cellar) is the way to go. It only allows for eight possible answers, so the predictions are going to be very general. The New Year’s Eve paper fortune tellers I’ve seen are mainly designed to answer yes-no questions, and are aimed at children. The one I’ve designed below is a general predictions fortune-teller for all ages. It’s ideal for those who say ‘yeah, sure, I’ll participate in the fortune-telling games’ but they’re unenthusiastic and don’t really want anything too specific about their fortune for the coming year.
IN CONCLUSION
One good thing about New Year’s divination is, it’s the one time of the year when normally divination-avoidant people will participate in, or at least tolerate such practices. And the beauty of all the above-methods is that you can get rid of the evidence afterward. The cookies, you can eat. The cootie-catcher, the wheel of fortune, the lucky dips predictions, you can tear all of them up and toss in the wastebasket or throw them on the fire, saying, “I’ll make my own fortune, thank you very much.”
I’m of two minds about New Year’s Eve traditions. I understand the natural human desire to determine one’s own future and destiny by affirming that good things will happen in the future. There’s a school of thought which heartily endorses this idea, because the human mind is a very powerful instrument, and thoughts can become things, so make sure what you’re thinking is what you really want.
And then there’s another school of thought, which says that before we’re born, we set down a plan of action, in which we agree to experience certain things in the life to come, events both positive and negative, and that these events are largely unavoidable. But all of it is intended to contribute to our soul’s growth. The problem is, when we’re born, we forgot what these things we agreed to experience were. This is where divination comes in. It’s like a crew member working in the wings with a cast member before the next scene, rehearsing their lines.
Sometimes the New Year brings good things, and sometimes, no matter how much we wish it were otherwise, it brings bad things. I’m of the mind that forewarned is forearmed, and knowing what’s coming can put you in a position to determine what your reaction to that future event is going to be. Motivational speaker Charles Swindoll once said he’s convinced that life is 10% what happens to him and 90% how he reacts to it. So with that in mind, have fun with these New Year’s divination tools, and may all your fortunes be good ones! Even if they don’t look that way at first. Happy New Year!
EXERCISES
- Print out and try the Lucky Dips, the Wheel of Fortune and the paper fortune-teller. (Glucksgriefe can be considered extra-credit, because it requires more effort, and time is short). Note the answers you receive, then return to them on December 31st next year. Did anything happen over the intervening year which could be construed as a fulfillment of the predictions you chose/drew?
- Take a look at the three (or four, if you tried Glucksgriefe also) predictions you drew. Was there a discernable ‘theme’ to these predictions? Or were they all too different from each other to form one cohesive message? Revisit these three or four separate predictions at the end of the year. Did only one of them come true, or can you see ways where all three or four played a part in your year?
- Choose just one of these New Year’s divination methods, either this year or next, and draw three different predictions from that one divination tool. Note the answers you receive and return to them at the end of the year. Did each prediction refer to a different event which happened that year, or in retrospect, did all three predictions tell one cohesive story? Would you rather have drawn one prediction from each divination tool, as you did in exercise 1?
- Given your experience with these four New Year’s divination methods, was there one of them you preferred over the other three? Which one seemed the most accurate? Did any of them come true? In your opinion, are New Year’s divination methods more to be considered entertainment, or do they give the inquirer any useful, accurate information about the year ahead?
One final note: in El Salvador, they practice ovomancy-egg divination-on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. That is another form of artomancy, which I’ll cover in a future lesson.
This is so helpful, thank you!
You’re welcome. Having done an entry on Halloween divination, this seemed like a good way to end the year.