About centenary fortune telling

In the short essay “On Centennial Fortune-telling” by St. Filaret of Moscow (Drozdov) says that this phenomenon is associated with idolatry and is considered an ungodly act, spiritually dangerous and an unacceptable activity for Christians. Hundred fortune telling is a type of spiritualism. The work serves as a warning against being carried away by occult practices and reminds us of the importance of humility before God's will. The saint compares fortune telling with a son’s attempt to forge the key to his father’s vault, emphasizing that the desire to penetrate into the hidden contradicts trust in God’s providence. Using specific examples, he shows how fortune telling leads to false expectations, slander and mental suffering. The author argues that the source of answers in fortune telling cannot be a soulless object, and therefore behind it are either demonic forces hiding behind the names of the dead, or the souls of the dead themselves, which is directly prohibited by the Holy Scriptures (Deut. 18:9-12). St. Filaret warns that even if it seems as if the table is “saying” something plausible, this does not justify anything or anyone, since such phenomena belong to the realm of superstition and spiritual seduction. In conclusion, he urges readers to avoid curiosity about the hidden and to trust only what is revealed by God. It’s sad to hear about fortune telling that many, as if children were playing some new game, eagerly took up it, without thinking about what they were playing with and how the game might end. I share your opinion that this activity is unacceptable. Let us imagine that a son in his father’s house, having the freedom to use everything he needs, and much that is pleasant, is not content with this and, encountering a vault for which he is not given a key, forges the key and unlocks it, let’s say, not in order to steal, but only to see what is hidden there. Isn't this ignoble? Shouldn't the son be ashamed? Shouldn't it be unpleasant for the father? Here is a judgment about any fortune-telling or divination, including fortune-telling, according to the simplest view of this matter. But if you look more closely at the experiments: the court should become stricter. I am not curious, but general curiosity, and in some the desire to know the truth and renounce lies and harm, are set in motion in such a way that a lot of information about fortune-telling experiments reaches me by itself, and in such ways that one cannot doubt the truth of this information. The table gave a prediction to one fortune-teller about a certain incident, which was supposed to arouse anticipation and could predispose to some preparations, and appointed the time at which this incident was to follow. The appointed time passed, and what was predicted did not happen. What if, with faith in fortune telling, some preparations were made in accordance with the predicted event? This would necessarily end in shame, but it could also end in harm. Before one passionate money-lender, the table slandered a person close to him. Now, they say, the fortune teller struggling with suspicion and the offended person are spending sleepless nights. These few experiences are enough to understand how many are guilty and how those who disobey the wise and good God, who has locked the hidden and the future from us, and who try to unlock it with counterfeit keys, behave to unfavorable consequences. But that's not all. The fortune tellers realized that the tree could not understand questions and give answers consistent with the questions. Therefore, they asked who answered them, and many of them received in response the names of various dead people. Now the question is: do the souls of the dead, whose names are announced to them, really answer the fortune tellers, or are these names used falsely and some unknowns are hidden under them? In this last case, these unknown people are liars, ascribing to themselves other people’s names, but lies do not belong to pure beings, the father of lies is the devil. So, fortune tellers must carefully consider who they are dealing with and from whom they want to learn the secret. Here we can recall the instruction of St. Anthony the Great regarding demons: If they pretend to be soothsayers; let no one cling to them. But if those who answer the hundred-givers are truly dead, then the judgment on this matter was pronounced long ago by God himself through the prophet Moses, in the seventeenth chapter of the book of Deuteronomy. “Let not you be accustomed to work according to the abomination of those tongues: let it not be found in you to purify his son and his daughter with fire, to cast a sorcerer with sorcery, and to enchant and enchant birds, to be a sorcerer possessed of charm, to be a magician and a standard-keeper, and to inquire of the dead: for all these things are an abomination to the Lord thy God: For these, for the sake of abominations, will the Lord thy God consume before thy presence” (Deut. 18:9–12). Do table-sorcerers who question the dead know this judgment? Do they even think about how severely their work is subject to condemnation? It is ranked among the abominations for which God condemned the Canaanite peoples to extermination. If one of the fortune tellers said that he does not seek a conversation with the dead, but simply receives signs from the table to resolve questions of curiosity or necessity, justice requires him to say to him: you are also wrong. You don’t know who is answering you, but you know that a tree cannot answer: therefore, you must conclude that the unknown person answering you is one of those who called themselves different during similar experiments. And in the fourth chapter of Hosea’s prophecy the following title is read: “With a sign I asked, and with my rods I told them” (Hosea 4:12). It is clearer from the Hebrew: “My people inquire about their trees; and his rod answers him." The Prophet shows two types of fortune telling: “With wood and with a rod.” The name tree, without a doubt, refers to wooden idols, from which, using methods unknown to us, answers were received (see: Judges 18: 5,6). Obviously, this is a deed that is repugnant to God, as it is associated with idolatry. The name “answering rod” refers to fortune-telling using wands, according to the signs on which side they fall when placed, or whether the noticed side lies up or down, and so on, which was called wand divination or wand sorcery. Although in this second type of fortune-telling there is no relation to idolatry, it, together with the first, is condemned by the prophet as a betrayal of the true God: “By the spirit of astray she was deceived and led astray by her God” (Hos. 4:12). Fortune telling cannot escape this accusation, no matter how hard it tries to explain itself in an easy and plausible manner. For those who look at fortune telling as a new discovery of a hitherto unknown force in nature and on this basis, perhaps, are thinking of establishing for themselves the legal right to continue research on it, it is useful to note that their work does not belong to the honor of not only a reasonable, but also an accidental new discovery in nature, they have only somehow made their way into the area of ​​​​an old pagan superstition. Tertullian, in the 23rd chapter of his Apology of Christianity, denouncing the dreams of pagan magic (magiae phantasmata) and attributing them to the action of demons, says: per quos et caprae et mensae diuinare consueuerunt: “Through them both goats and tables usually perform fortune telling.” He just doesn’t explain what techniques were used to make the tables facilitate fortune telling. Will anyone say that his table says something worthy of acceptance? You shouldn’t be seduced by this either. The “searching spirit” in the young woman of the city of Philippi spoke about Paul and Silas, apparently worthy of acceptance: “These men are the servants of the highest God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation” (Acts 16:17). But the Apostle was not only not pleased with this, but also could not bear it with patience: he cast out the spirit. Sorry I started talking. This is not necessary for you, but perhaps this will arouse your attention in order to give advice to the Wise One to your neighbor who can accept: “Do not seek those who are superior to you and do not test those who are strong for yourself. Even as you are commanded, understand this: there are no secret needs for you. Do not be curious about the abundance of your deeds: for the things of the human mind are shown to you: for many deceive their thoughts, and destroy their thoughts with crafty thoughts” (Sir. 3:21-24). You might be interested in: