I'm not sure if this thread has been done already, if it has, then well I couldn't find it :biggrin:

Many people out there think that they can tell your future by using many different means. Whether it be by horoscopes, tarot cards, palmistry or crystal ball gazing, we all have different beliefs in some, if not all of these methods. There is a lot of controversy about this subject so I would assume that there is a wide range of ideas floating around, so to speak.

Everyone has a star sign and only some people read their horoscopes. It all comes from the location of planetary motion, star locations and obviously your birth date.

I just wanted to know which star sign people are, and if anyone has had any moments where a future prediction has been true, whether in a good way or in a bad way. Also, what do you guys think about the feasibility of these future-telling practises?

I'm a Sagittarean. Some characteristics typical of a Sagittarean are true of me, and some are not.

I've had my horoscope drawn up but I'm not allowed to see it... in case I just leave everything to fate.

As far as predictions go, newspaper astrology is much like pop psychology - doesn't really mean much and is just engineered to appeal to fantasies and the attraction of the unknown. They're pretty vague, so they can always 'come true' in some form or another. Real astrology on the other hand - the kind that is based on your unique factors - may or may not be valid and reliable. I really don't know. I would like to think there is something mapped out for me, but then I'd just be lazy and let life go on, because I'll theorise that what is meant to happen will happen regardless of what I do to change it -- but it would have been reassuring to know that there is some course that my life is destined to follow... it takes the stress off. I like to think my future is in my hands too though, because I like the uncertainity and tabla rossa sort of feeling for what the future will hold.

Then again, every time I play a game of chance, I never win... I can't really do anything about these games of chance either to improve my probability of winning. I just seem to pick the bad options... so I must be chronically unlucky, and one can't really justify luck scientically. So... maybe I'm 'destined' to be an unlucky person when I'm playing games of chance, and I can't change that destiny :)

For some things, I seem to be unexplicable unlucky. Take Monopoly for example... My brother, who would have been like 10 at the time, used to always win, and I'd always end up bankrupt. I rolled numbers which landed me on disadvantageous squares a lot more often.. This is weird, we've kept a monopoly scoreboard (high scores of all time) and the ratio of his wins to mine are like 9:1. He doesn't play expertly well or anything, and I've even tried to mimic his playing style. Nothing really works. I'm sure somewhere behind it there's an explanation, like me overthinking the game or maybe using a strategy which will always lose to his (perhaps far simpler) strategy. I don't believe in luck or fate, except in the sense of the word-- someone who is "lucky" has just had a good turn of events against assumed odds.

I also don't believe in curses, jynxes, magic or fortune-telling. I believe there is a reason to everything, whether or not we can or are meant to find out what it is.

For example, when I was younger, I'd always pick the red dice in monopoly because it rolled higher numbers, although was visually the same as any other dice. Perhaps a slight difference in weight on one side due to the density or a chipped edge caused it to fall onto one face more than the others. But to us kids, it was just jynxed!

</my two cents>

I don't believe in this nonsense - I'm a Virgo, we're very sceptical.

(sorry, I've been wanting to do that joke for ages :P)

tgfcoder - losing at Monopoly means you are very lucky! It means that the game is over really quick and you can go do something else more fun :P

Insofar as starsigns can tell us who we are:

My starsign is Virgo and I'm quite typical in some ways. I'm good at detailed work, I'm nit-picky, organised, tidy, analytical and communicative. I'm good with tools and I'm methodical. I'm also impatient.

I have Cancer rising, which means I'm very attached to people, and that I see my friends as an extension of my family. It also says I'm very slow to make friends, and can be moody.

Scorpio also features several times in my chart, meaning I'm an intense kind of person, never superficial and that I have strongly defined likes and dislikes.

Those things are probably all true of me. But several things just don't ring true at all. My Virgo side ought to mean I'm obsessed with my health - untrue, I'm not a health freak at all. My Cancer side ought to hate change - untrue, I thrive on it. My Scorpio side says that I'm slow to anger and hold a grudge - untrue, my anger flares up really fast and I never hold a grudge.

It's easy to pick out a few things which sound about right in horoscopes, and ignore the rest. Even a fairly specific birth-plan contains so much information that some of it will always be true.

There's another question here - does my profile fit me, or do I fit my profile? Did I read certain qualities that appeal to me and think 'that's how I want to (ought to) be' and changed myself to fit? All my life I have read or people have told me that I'm a Virgo, so I must be organised - did that change me? Afterall, if you're told you're something for long enough, it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Generally speaking, I don't believe that the stars control our fate. I think we make our own luck in life. Think positive, always find a silver lining and suddenly you will appear to be luckier.

I tend to subscribe to the normal hypocritical view on fate/self-determination. If something great happens, I made it happen. If something bad happens, it was fate. Meh. All these things are just mechanisms to help us get through day-to-day life without going too insane. Whatever works for any individual is just fine.

As far as telling the future goes, I don't think it can be done on such a wide scale. It's more representative of a human desire than an actual possibility. I do believe in fortune telling, but only on a one-to-one basis, as I think some people are medium(s media?) for that kind of thing.

There's nothing legitimate about what astrologists, palm-readers and 'psychics' claim to be doing. It's all a massive money-making pseudo-science that scams stupid people of their earnings. The best we can do is forecast the future with a given set of variables and the psychological profile of the person in question but even then nothing is certain.

Eeb. This made me think of a routine which my hero (and future life-partner, fingers crossed for luck) Derren Brown (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=b_fChXC5CfI) did. He got a group of people and asked them all to give him an item which they regarded as precious to them, so people were giving him wedding rings and that. He didn't have any face-to-face contact with the people at all. He then typed up an extensive and highly detailed report on each person and gave them out.

Each person was asked how accurate their reports were, and they were all answering 95-100%, and saying "how could he know that about me?" and thus and such. THEN (twist-time) the members of the group were told to compare reports with one another, and everyone had been given the same one. :):) Love Derren. It then showed clips of him giving out translated versions of the exact same report to people all over the world, and they all thought that it applied directly and accurately to them. Well, um, the point is that it's really easy for supposed "mediums" or whoever to say things and sound impressive, but really it's just "cold-reading"; saying things which could be true in some sense to anyone.

I just felt like telling a Derren story. :)

I think that it would be very arrogant of us to say for certain that astrology, psychicism and other future prediction techniques is a load of rubbish because it is very likely that there is far more for us to discover and understand than we currently know. A thousand years ago, if I said that the daily tides of the sea are caused by the moon, people would have laughed at the thought that something so distant could cause a phenomenon that is so close to us. But after understanding gravity, we can see how this is possible. In a similar way, prediction methods may also be understandable through future scientific discoveries. If they didn't work at all, they would've surely vanished by now.

Having said all that, I do believe that many of them are scams and a way to make money by playing on the feelings of people who feel that they want a meaning or a direction to their life. Then again, if these do make people feel better about their life and themselves, are they a bad thing, even if they are made up?

I'm a Cancer. Can't say that i've ever had any predictions come true or not. I really don't pay that much attention to them enough to know. I don't necessarily think it is a load of hooey but I don't place my money on those sorts of things. *shrugs*

I'm not into this sort of stuffs, to be honest. Horoscopes, especially. When I was younger, I would read a few just 'cause I was curious. And I noticed that the type of things they wrote could apply.. ideally.. to ANYONE! Lol. Like, "this week you will get some good news".. I mean, the chances of that happening to anyone is high. Especially if you consider little positive things as being great news. Or how about, "you will meet one of your good friends".. well okay then! Hehe. Seriously though, I used to read through all the star signs and there were things I could pick out of all/most of them that would apply to me, anyway. lol. Even if it was things about my personality.

What I do believe in is dreams... I believe we've been "gifted" sometimes with dreams that resemble a part of the future. For example, I've had loads of dreams where I've done something and then in real life it happens soon after..

The most frrrreakiest of them all was when I had a seizure a few years ago. I had a dream that I had a problem after one of my seizures. And I went to hospital with two of my sisters. The doctors looked at me and struggled to work out what was wrong, and I had wires coming off of me. What happens in real life? 4 days after I find that I had a seizure.. lol. And suffered severe jerking for hours and hours later, and had to go to hospital (happened to be with those two of my sisters too! Consider that I have 6 sisters and two parents :P) and the doctors were confused as to why I was jerking like this, and after so long. They also wired me up to things. But I was too out of it to pay attention. All I remember thinking was.. I had this dream 4 days ago!

And I wasn't lying 'cause I told one of my sisters the night I had it, heh. XD

I guess it seems ironic that I don't really believe in most of these fortune / future-telling practises, seeing as I started this thread. Some of your replies are awesome and it's great to see other people's views on this subject, as every person has their own opinion.

Okay, now and again I look at my Cancerian horoscope, but only if the newspaper or magazine or internet site was on a particular page so I could view it quickly. I wouldn't bother spending too much time wondering about it.
I guess some of the personality traits can be seen through a horoscope, but as Vik said, people just pick out those traits that most likely fit our actual personalities and ignore the rest.

What I do believe in is dreams... I believe we've been "gifted" sometimes with dreams that resemble a part of the future. For example, I've had loads of dreams where I've done something and then in real life it happens soon after..

I am somewhat a believer in that too Nerdy, but I have not had these "visions" (for want of a better word) as clearly. On the odd occasion I get a déja vu moment during the day that reminds me of the dream that I had the previous night.

I think that it would be very arrogant of us to say for certain that astrology, psychicism and other future prediction techniques is a load of rubbish because it is very likely that there is far more for us to discover and understand than we currently know.

Indeed, very well said Captain. We do not fully understand the concept of psychicism, but wouldn't it be great if we did? :biggrin:

All these TV adverts and now even entire TV channels are devoted to those "gifted" individuals who think that they can "see". There are usually extortionately priced phone lines for people to ring in and contact the show.
Recently, I've seen one such channel that can apparently connect you to the "deceased world", supposedly making it possible for people to contact late family members. I guess if you are in that mood and require peace of mind, it can be very useful.

I once knew of a woman who was supposedly the real deal... she never charged and was a run of the mill person. Her predictions were accurate according to everyone who ever met with her... I never got to do that before she died.

I've told fortunes using runes and tarot but would never dream of doing such a thing for money. I'm told that I'm pretty much right on the money most of the time but I'm not in the least bit psychic I don't think...

Oh and I can never read my own... they always come out wonky, lol.

I believed in Chinese horoscopes :P (according to my horoscope sign, im not talkative ;D)

Haha, while reading this thread, the temporary advert box at the top of this page said, "Live Psychic Readings". How ironic.

Haha, while reading this thread, the temporary advert box at the top of this page said, "Live Psychic Readings". How ironic.
You might notice that when you visit certain threads the advert usually relates to words within that thread ;)

I remember some thread in the humour and debates section had some hilarious ads.

My starsign is scorpio.
I read my stars whenever i read a paper or magazine which is very often.
I think there must be something in the stars being correct sometimes as i read things that happen quiet often, the thing is not to take it word for word whats said, look at the bigger picture think out of the box.
Then you will see more truth it it.

/me tackles nyna :D:D:D im cancer too ^_^ (oki, no cancer jokes plz -_-)

i just read horoscopes cause sometimes they're funneh, and sometimes they're freakishly accurate -_- :)
/me skips off

oh as for future stuff and whatnot..i think bout my future a lot,, too much i'd say, so much i stress myself out and cant really have fun in the present :( so if the stars can tell our futures? yay :) but i'd rather live now then worry bout then :D

I am a Virgo, like Vik, and I certainly feel that I have some (*cough a lot*) of the characteristics that Virgo's are supposd to have.

Mr Saff bought me this fabulous book once when he went on a work jaunt (back in the early marriage days where he used to buy me things when he went away....) called "The Secret Language of Birthdays", (http://www.seekbooks.com.au/book/Secret-Language-of-Birthdays/isbn/9780670032617.htm)and I must say that every single person, without exception, who has read the blurb about their own birthday and how it may shape their personality/beliefs has been drop-mouthed-agape at how accurate it is.

Each day has it's own description and it goes into the strengths and weaknesses and gives you a 'meditation' - mine is "A dragon does not always have to be slain. It can sometimes be befriended"

True or not, I have found that the words in that book have resonated with me to the extent that I have used that meditation in difficult times.....

Ayway, highly recommended reading for those who have even slight beliefs or curiosity.

My sister has that book Saff! She LOVES it....but I am 1 exception to the rule I guess because my birthday does not suit me very much at all according to that book! =P

I really like it too - it's one of the best presents he has bought me XD
ps - it does say if you are born early in the morning or late at night to read the previous/following day as well.....not that I'm trying to convince you of anything, it's just fascinating. :D