I saw a thread on /x/ (pretty sure it was posted here) where the OP was giving fortunes by reading out random sentences from random books on a shelf.
I tried it myself. I asked a question and let myself be drawn towards a certain book, a certain page, a certain sentence, with my eyes closed. I opened and picked the first sentence I layed my eyes on.
Quotes are exact except where noted.
>Will [redacted] last?<A man was building a house when it collapsed all around him.
>[redacted]<Sorry pal, the cupboards are bare.
>Do I [redacted]?<This expression originally referred to men who became monks for three days and then quit because they found the spartan religious life too difficult.
>Will I die an early death?<The sublimity and terror of the spiritual message are inescapable and timeless.
I became suspicious of all the doom and gloom, so I started asking where these answers were coming from. Note after this point, I got a few meaningless non-answers, which I have omitted. Three or four clustered early on, the sort of thing you would normally expect picking a sentence at random. I should have tried to remember those too for the sake of presenting the whole story and avoiding selection bias, but I already forgot them.
>Where is the source?<Others are found elsewhere. Grotesque ideas are found in mythological stories, "primitive" belief systems or modern art. Weird ideas come to us in dreams. Strange theories come out of the mouths of children.
>Who are you?<If necessary, cover with tinfoil to prevent overbrowning.
>Who or what are you?<Today in many shops in Santa Fe you too can pick up a carved animal figure, called a fetish. According to belief, the owner of the fetish is able to absorb the power of that creature, whatever it may be.
>What do you want?<[paraphrased] "Why don't we come over and join you later tonight?" Mary asked
>What do you want?<[paraphrased] I just wanted to let you know [book character name I forgot] might be playing games with you.
>Why do you mock me?<[Something about a crying baby with air in his stomach and a dramatically overconcerned mother, might as well have been LOL BUTTHURT]
At that point it was clear someone was fucking with me, but it's funny so I don't mind much.
So then, what do I make of methods of fortune telling that involve leaving things to 'chance'? In such a system, where do the answers come from? The practitioner, or spirits who do the actual work?
If it's the former it would be colored heavily by the practitioner's own expectations and fears. Where is there room for the influence of the actual future? If it's the latter, there's room for nonsense to creep in and the opportunity for less benevolent spirits to interfere, which is what seems to be the case here. Going to do LBRP.
