Parrot astrology or parakeet fortune-telling is a type of astrology traditionally practiced in the Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh and by Indian Singaporeans. It involves using mainly rose-ringed and Alexandrine parakeets which are trained to pick up Tarot-like fortune cards. [2] [3]
A parrot astrologer/fortune teller typically sits beneath a tree to call or by the side of the road where people congregate. He has a cage which contains one or two trained parrots. The tarot like cards are either spread out or stacked in front of him. They are 27 in number representing the Indian cosmic system. Each card contains the image of a Hindu deity and some cards contain images of Buddha or Virgin Mary with Infant Jesus. When a patron sits before the fortune teller, the latter opens the cage and lets the parrot out. He instructs the parrot to pick a card for the patron. The parrot walks over to the cards, picks one from the stack or the spread with its beak and gives it to the astrologer. It then walks back inside its cage. The astrologer opens the card and based on the image tells the fortune of the patron. [2] [3]
The practice of parrot astrology is diminishing in Tamil Nadu due to lack of patronage. [2] In Singapore it is a tourist attraction in Little India along the Serangoon Road. [4] A variant is also practiced in Pakistan. [5]
Divination is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic ritual or practice. Using various methods throughout history, diviners ascertain their interpretations of how a querent should proceed by reading signs, events, or omens, or through alleged contact or interaction with supernatural agencies such as spirits, gods, god-like-beings or the "will of the universe".
Tarot is a pack of playing cards, used from at least the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play card games such as Tarocchini. From their Italian roots, tarot-playing cards spread to most of Europe, evolving into a family of games that includes German Grosstarok and modern games such as French Tarot and Austrian Königrufen. In the late 18th century French occultists made elaborate, but unsubstantiated, claims about their history and meaning, leading to the emergence of custom decks for use in divination via tarot card reading and cartomancy. Thus, there are two distinct types of tarot packs in circulation: those used for card games and those used for divination. However, some older patterns, such as the Tarot de Marseille, originally intended for playing card games, are also used for cartomancy.
Fortune telling is the unproven spiritual practice of predicting information about a person's life. The scope of fortune telling is in principle identical with the practice of divination. The difference is that divination is the term used for predictions considered part of a religious ritual, invoking deities or spirits, while the term fortune telling implies a less serious or formal setting, even one of popular culture, where belief in occult workings behind the prediction is less prominent than the concept of suggestion, spiritual or practical advisory or affirmation.
The Minor Arcana, sometimes known as the Lesser Arcana, are the suit cards in a cartomantic tarot deck.
The Major Arcana are the named cards in a cartomantic tarot pack. There are usually 22 such cards in a standard 78-card pack, typically numbered from 0 to 21. Although the cards correspond to the trump cards of a pack used for playing tarot card game, the term 'Major Arcana' is rarely used by players and is typically associated exclusively with use for divination by occultists.
Malkuth, Malkhut, Malkhuth, or Malchus, is the tenth of the sefirot in the Kabbalistic Tree of Life.
Ka-Bala was a talking board game manufactured and released by Transogram in 1967. It was marketed under the slogan, "The Mysterious Game that Tells the Future."
Onychomancy or onymancy is an ancient form of divination using fingernails as a "crystal ball" or "scrying mirror" and is considered a subdivision of palmistry. As with palmistry, the contradictions between different interpretations and the lack of evidence for the predictions have led onychomancy to be viewed as a pseudoscience by academics.
Lotería is a traditional Mexican board game of chance, similar to bingo, but played with a deck of cards instead of numbered balls. Each card has an image of an everyday object, its name, and a number, although the number is usually ignored. Each player has at least one tabla, a board with a randomly created 4 × 4 grid selected from the card images. Players choose a tabla ("board") to play with, from a variety of previously created tablas, each with a different selection of images.
Vaitheeswaran Koil is a Hindu temple dedicated to the Shiva, located in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Shiva is worshipped as Vaidyanathar or Vaitheeswaran meaning the "God of healing" and it is believed that prayers to Vaitheeswaran can cure diseases. Vaitheeswaran is a Tamil derivative from vaidya (Doctor) and Ishvara (God/Master). The presiding deity is Sri vaidyanathan, facing towards West whereas East side is the common one. He is the God of Healing. When pronouncing in Tamil, it sounds like "vaideeswaran". It is one of the nine Navagraha temples and is associated with the planet Mars (Angaraka).
A psychic reading is a specific attempt to discern information through the use of heightened perceptive abilities; or natural extensions of the basic human senses of sight, sound, touch, taste and instinct. These natural extensions are claimed to be clairvoyance (vision), clairsentience (feeling), claircognisance and clairaudience (hearing) and the resulting statements made during such an attempt. The term is commonly associated with paranormal-based consultation given for a fee in such settings as over the phone, in a home, or at psychic fairs. Though psychic readings are controversial and a focus of skeptical inquiry, a popular interest in them persists. Extensive experimentation to replicate psychic results in laboratory conditions have failed to find any precognitive phenomena in humans. A cold reading technique allows psychics to produce seemingly specific information about an individual from social cues and broad statements.
Tarot card reading is a form of cartomancy whereby practitioners use tarot cards to purportedly gain insight into the past, present or future. They formulate a question, then draw cards to interpret them for this end. A traditional tarot deck consists of 78 cards, which can be split into two groups, the Major Arcana and Minor Arcana. French-suited playing cards can also be used; as can any card system with suits assigned to identifiable elements.
Ma Prem Usha was an Indian tarot card reader and columnist. Usha, who was well known as a clairvoyant and fortune-teller both inside Indian and abroad, travelled extensively to read her tarot cards.
A fortune teller machine is a type of amusement automaton, which upon receiving credit gives out a card with a prediction of the reader's future. This is typically given by an automaton. They could be found in penny arcades, and can be seen in modern video arcades and amusement parks.
Mani the parakeet, also called Mani the parrot, is a Malaysian-born rose-ringed parakeet who resides in Singapore. He has been an astrologer "assistant" to M. Muniyappan since 2005, working from his Little India fortune-telling shop along Serangoon Road. M. Muniyappan is locally known to make his predictions using a simplified form of cartomancy.
The Chandiranaar Temple is a Hindu temple in the village of Thingalur, 33 kilometres (21 mi) from Kumbakonam on the Kumbakonam - Thiruvaiyaru road in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The presiding deity is Soma (moon). However, the main idol in the temple is that of Kailasanathar or Shiva. The temple is considered one of the nine Navagraha temples in Tamil Nadu. Thingalur is the birthplace of Appothi Adigal, one of the 63 nayanmars of lord Shiva and an ardent devotee of saint Thirunavukkarasar, though the temple has no assets related to the saint.
Tarot games are card games played with tarot packs designed for card play and which have a permanent trump suit alongside the usual four card suits. The games and packs which English-speakers call by the French name tarot are called tarocchi in the original Italian, Tarock in German and similar words in other languages.
Aruvam is a 2019 Indian Tamil-language supernatural horror thriller film written and directed by Sai Sekhar. The film stars Siddharth and Catherine Tresa with Kabir Duhan Singh, Madhusudhan Rao, Sathish, Aadukalam Naren and Manobala in supportive roles. Sai Thaman composed the film's soundtrack while the cinematography and editing were handled by N. K. Ekambaram and Praveen K. L. respectively. Principal photography commenced on 13 July 2018.
Gertrude Charlotte Moakley was an American librarian and a Tarot scholar. Moakley is notable for having written the earliest and most significant account of the iconography of Tarot, a card game which originated in the Italian Renaissance. She had worked at the New York Public Library.
Linn Nhyo Taryar, also known as Hein Min Aung, is a Burmese astrologer and writer, known for his yadaya rituals and fortune predictions. He was arrested for high treason after posting a video in which he prayed for the downfall of the Burmese army general Min Aung Hlaing, who took power during the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état.