CONCLUSION
Given the Calendar of Lovers overall unflinchingly honesty, I don’t consider this divination tool a Fun Party Game. It’s more the kind of thing you’d consult when you learn that somebody you know is contemplating marriage or is in a romantic involvement with somebody. It’s the kind of thing you’d consult when the someone-you-know is still a child, and you want to know what sort of marriage they’ll enter into, or generally what sort of spouse they’ll make. It is the sort of thing that can secretly confirm your ‘aha! I knew it’ suspicions about certain people or their marriages. It’s background information stuff.
If you do a survey of everyone whose birthdate you know and find there’s more accuracy than not, then you’ve got yourself another useful and enlightening divination tool. With this Calendar of Lovers, you can read the forecasts for married or romantically-involved people you know, do a comparison of the two, and come to some conclusions about the inner dynamics of the relationship which may not be apparent to observers.
If you’re going to attend a wedding this next month, I hope it’s a good time. More than that, I hope it’s a marriage that will succeed, because the whole society benefits from marriages that work. Maybe, just maybe, this ‘Calendar of Lovers’ list can get some people re-thinking their romantic connections before they make a big mistake. Maybe it can reinforce the convictions of those who shouldn’t get married in the first place and know it.
What I call List-of-Days divination methods are a bit disturbing on a philosophical level, because their existence brings up a real question about how much free will we have. Are some people destined for good fortune and others bad, based on certain days of the calendar? On the other hand, one could always take the attitude that forewarned is forearmed. Knowing you’ve got a problem is the first step toward solving it. If your birthday inclines you to a certain outcome that isn’t good, you’ve got a heads-up, so you can make adjustments and maybe avoid pain. I hope for that reason you find this Calendar of Lovers useful.
EXERCISES
- Print-out a copy or two of page 16 from the PDF, the observations sheet for singletons you know. Start listing the names and birthdates of single people whose birthdates you know, as well as their day’s love fortune. Then for each one, do a character assessment. Given your knowledge of this person, does their birthday’s fortune sound believable for them? Put an X or a check-mark after Yes, No, Maybe, or Sort of. In the observations section, you can cite relevant information to support your assessment, or explain a qualified answer you made.
- Print out a copy or two of page 17 from the PDF, the observations sheet for couples you know. List the names and birthdates for each one, their respective fortunes, and in the observations section, your assessment on how they work together as a couple, or don’t.
- Given your survey of all these people, how accurate was the Calendar of Lovers about people you know? Were there any exceptions to the rule? Would you share these observations with any of the people you know, or would you keep it confidential, as personal background information? Do you think this is a useful divination tool?
- EXTRA CREDIT: If you’re feeling bold-enough, you can ask people to read their birthday’s prophecy in this list and ask them if it sounds like them. How many agreed? How many said no? How many were non-committal?
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Everybody’s Book of Luck. Racine, Wisconsin: Whitman Publishing Company, 1900.