Fortune Telling

Fortune telling is an art! How else can you describe the clairvoyant who has you hanging -neither here nor there? Let's take a look at the daily 'What the Stars have for You' Column for instance. Such deep predictions - all for a matter of the few waking hours of the day. Today's prediction for Virgo is :
you've long known that eventually, you have to make serious decisions about the financial side of your life. now that time has come. true, getting things settled will be a relief. still, it would be in your best interests to wait and see what kind of changes monday's full moon brings first.
Yesterday's one for the same sign said :
distressing as it is to watch others make unwise decisions, you can only warn them so many times. having stated your concerns clearly, your last option is to back off and hope they'll heed your words. meanwhile, ensure you're nearby particulary should it become necessary to help pick up the pieces.

Often, the man or woman of you dreams is going to enter into your life today or you are going to sign that milestone contract that is going to make you a very, very rich person indeed. The Stars the following day say you probably missed the boat because you probably did not take appropriate action!

As for the double-entendre that goes hand in hand with fortune-telling, Shakespeare's Macbeth is a wonderfully vivid example of this, and of how psychologically, these predictions could start colouring one's thinking and actions.

In the First Act, Scene II, we see a loyal, valiant, and self-less Macbeth fighting for his King and country against the King of Norway, who is being assisted by the treacherous Scottish Thane of Cawdor, Macdonwald. Reports coming from the battlefields describe Macbeth as 'brave Macbeth' and 'Bellona's Bridegroom'. King Duncan, is so gratified by Macbeth's loyalty that he decides to bestow Macdonwald's erstwhile title of 'Thane of Cawdor upon him on his return.

Meanwhile, however, three witches have been meeting in a deserted place and are planning to gather again upon the heath and meet with Macbeth as he returns from battle. As Macbeth and Banquo (Duncan's Generals) return from battle, they hail Macbeth as Lord Glamis (which he already is), Cawdor and King thereafter. As for Banquo, they predict that whilst he will not be king but he will beget kings. They then disappear into thin air. Banquo and Macbeth discuss this sighting and the predictions of the three sisters. This is only Scene III of Act I, and already one sees a shift in Macbeth's manner and behaviour. As the play progresses, one sees Macbeth's transformation from that noble and loyal subject of a well-loved, wise old King into an ambitious fiend aided by his wife who is even more fiendish that he is. Starting with the murder of his anointed King and cousin under his very roof, one murder follows another as he works towards securing his position as King.

In Act IV, Scene I, he seeks those sisters again to see what his future holds in wake of a rebellion from the nobles of Scotland. The witches conjure up apparitions, which prophesy that he must beware of Macduff. However, on being further pressed, they say that he is safe - as only a man not born of a woman would be able to harm him. Also that, "Macbeth shall never vanquished be until Great Birnam Wood to High Dunsinane Hill Shall come against him".

These predictions further goad Macbeth onto the evil path he has already taken. The just in his kingdom are doomed, even women and children are not spared. Ironically, Macbeth and his wife too have actually embarked on a doomed path. He is king but does not command the love of his subjects. Those that do follow him only do so out of fear. She is queen but has now become an insomniac. She is unable to wash away the guilt of the murder of Duncan, Macduff's wife and Banquo. She walks and talks in her sleep and rubs her hands as if washing them and says "Here's the smell of blood still: All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand….". She finally kills herself.

Malcolm, Duncan's eldest son, with the help of the English and the faithful nobles of Scotland are now almost upon Macbeth in Dunsinane. By now we hear that many of Macbeth’s soldiers too have joined the invading army. Yet, Macbeth is still so clouded by the predictions that he thinks that he's invincible.

We see the once so noble nobleman turn into a demented person as each prediction works against him. When he hears that Birnam wood is indeed moving towards Dunsinane, he says, …I pull in resolution and begin to doubt the equivocation (of double or doubtful meaning) of the fiend that lies like truth : fear not till Birnam wood do come to Dunsinane". It appeared that Birnam wood was moving towards Dunsinane as Malcolm had ordered that every soldier cut down a bough and carry it before him, making it easier for them to confuse Macbeth's army whilst spying on them and getting the vantage.

The invaders have entered the castle and Macbeth meets Macduff in combat and tells him to give up as , "…I bear a charmed life which must not yield To one of a woman born". Macduff retorts, "Despair thy charm, And let the angel whom thou still hast served Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother's womb Untimely ripp'd."
Astounded Macbeth says "Accursed be the tongue that tells me so, for it hath cow'd my better part of man! And be these juggling fiends be no more believed, that palter with us in a double sense; That keep the word of promise to our ear And break it to our hope…".

Macbeth of course meets his death as a traitor at the hands of Macduff. He obviously had ambitions, but had he not met the three evil sisters, surely as a loyal subject of the King, his life could have taken a more noble and productive path rather than the destructive doom that he and his wife hastened upon themselves.

Obviously, the moral here is not to take fate into your hands, but let things take their own course and sort themselves out. We just need to get on with our tasks and duties in the best possible way and leave the rest to providence! Fortune-telling I think, is great for people who do not take it too seriously!