![]() Those who do realize quickly that this cash-on-demand business means there is often no paper trail or evidence. I’m in the business of truth, whether you like it or not.”īut most victims are too embarrassed to turn to police. “Part of my service is providing empathy and support to people. While the fortune teller declared that the future can be altered if I consciously avoid red cars for the rest of my life, she added sadly, “On that day, you will forget.“There are people in this business who are not legitimate, and there are people - a lot of people like myself - who are legitimate, that have gifts and varying degrees,” she says. This one said that I would die or be killed in a red car. The second was the only one who predicted bad news. Two stand out, first was a Thai lady who entered the Bangkok restaurant where we were feasting on phad thai and predicted “you will make a living with your mouth.” In retrospect, I did make a career by teaching and lecturing. I was supposed to live to 35, the same age when Rizal was shot-that has not come to pass either. Everyone saw an easy life marked by wealth and travel that has not come to pass. There were tea leaf readers, astrologers, and clairvoyants. Some used Bicycle playing cards, others tarot cards, and I always wondered why nobody used mahjong tiles to foresee the future. Of the many fortune tellers my mother brought me to, some read the lines on my palms, others the moles and pimples on my face, or the shape of my head. She then served this, mixed with my father’s breakfast drink it consisted of assorted leaves and herbs, as well as pieces of paper with incantations dipped in dad’s orange juice. My sister caught a fortune teller/mangkukulam giving my mother instructions on a love potion. Come to think of it, when I was growing up, all the engineers and architects in my father’s orbit were all men. There was always the fear or suspicion that there was a kept woman somewhere that explained why my father never had bombshell secretaries or associates. My grandmother (actually my mother’s evil stepmother) planted the seed of suspicion before her marriage, warning her that my father had another family, with children older than us. I think that my mother’s obsession with fortune tellers was rooted in protecting her turf and home. Our future does not lie in a deck of tarot cards or fortune cookies-we make our past, present, and future. She took them seriously, while I accompanied her and listened to my fortune with a grain of salt. My interest in fortune telling came from my mother who was fond of fortune tellers. I have since outgrown reading the new year astrological forecast and the visit to fortune tellers to see what a new year has in store for me. I remain hopeful that 2023 will be kinder than 2022, but later in the day, I was one of hundreds of airline passengers inconvenienced by the technical glitch in the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. I did just that and took photos of the first daybreak of 2023 from the windows in my study that face east. ![]() 31 when we should actually be up at dawn to greet the first sunrise of the year. Children were also told to jump as high as they could at midnight, so they would grow taller.Īs I reminisced on new years past, I wondered why we celebrate at midnight on Dec. Those who are scared of fireworks make noise with wooden rattles, drums, and paper horns we know as “torotot” or “pakakak,” which are lewd as they are loud. I haven’t seen bamboo cannons fueled with hot water and “kalburo” in decades. In the Philippines, we drive bad fortune away by making noise, through firecrackers whose names I remember from childhood as “watusi,” “laventador,” “triangle,” “whistle bomb,” “five-star,” “bawang,” “sawa,” and “Sinturon ni Hudas.” There are more colorful or suggestive names now like “Lolo,” “Superlolo,” and “Goodbye Bading” that literally give more bang for the buck you pay.
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