Reading Fortunes and Listening to Lives
The commonalities and decisive differences between counseling and fortune-telling
When I finished reading "What is Counseling: On Changing" (by Kaito Tohata), which won first place in the 2026 Shinsho Awards, I felt that "this is also a book about fortune-telling."
Of course, this book is about clinical psychology. However, the attitude toward facing a client and the philosophy of supporting the process of human change had parts that overlapped surprisingly with the fortune-telling I have been involved in for many years.
As a fortune-teller, I always ask for a person's date of birth before a reading. In Sukuyo, I determine the lunar mansion; in Nine Star Ki, I confirm the main star, monthly star, and inclination palace; and in Four Pillars of Destiny, I create a chart to read the flow of fortune up to the age of one hundred. When I am unsure of a judgment, I may also cast the I Ching.
Things that cannot be seen with a single divination method can emerge three-dimensionally as a person's qualities and life themes when multiple methods are layered. I call this method of reading "hybrid divination."
However, in actual readings, the time spent explaining those charts and fortunes is surprisingly short. This is because the truly important part is the dialogue that begins afterward.
Many people I meet for the first time are nervous. It is rare for them to talk about the core of their worries from the start. That is why I do not give answers right away.
I start by creating an atmosphere where the person can speak with peace of mind. For the past 20 years, I have worked as a reporter for various media outlets, including newspapers, television, radio, and magazines. The attitude of waiting for the interviewee to open up their heart is surprisingly similar to the attitude of welcoming a client for a reading.
The goal is not to ask repeated questions. It is to build a relationship where the other person feels, "I can talk to this person." Only with that foundation can true words be born.
That is why it is not uncommon for a reading scheduled for one hour to last three, or sometimes five hours. By that time, it has become more of a counseling session than a fortune-telling session.
In this book, Mr. Tohata describescounseling as a "strategic meeting to move reality."He says it is an activity of organizing the client's suffering, understanding reality, and thinking together about how to live from here on out.
I deeply empathized with this expression. In society, it is often thought that fortune-telling is for predicting the future and counseling is for discussing worries. However, the essence of neither is "a job that gives answers." They are jobs that organize life.
Fortune-telling is the same. A chart is not a blueprint that determines the future. It is a map for the long journey of life. Where you are standing now, whether it is a tailwind or a headwind, whether it is a time to store energy or a time to challenge yourself. Reading that "topography of time" is the role of fortune-telling.
I often distinguish between "fate" and "destiny." Fate is the qualities you are born with and the foundation of your life. However, life is something you build yourself on top of that. Even if it is difficult to change the flow of a river, you can figure out how to row the boat.
Fortune-telling is a time to think about how to row together. The "change" Mr. Tohata speaks of was not about forcing yourself to change, but about changing the relationship between yourself and the world.
Reading these words, I felt they overlapped with a philosophy I have cherished for many years:"Not changing your fortune, but changing how you live with your fortune."On the other hand, there is a decisive difference between the two. Counseling proceeds with the client's own narrative at the center. It is a professional practice that supports the process of the person finding answers themselves, based on psychology and clinical experience.
In contrast, fortune-telling has "wisdom for reading time" that has been passed down over many years, such as charts, the I Ching, Nine Star Ki, Sukuyo, and the Four Pillars of Destiny.
In other words,
counseling looks at life from the inside. Fortune-telling views life from the flow of time.The directions are different. But the destination is the same.It is for the client to be able to walk a life that is true to themselves. Here, I am reminded of the difference between "hearing" and "listening" that I wrote about before.
"Hearing" is just letting sounds enter your ears. "Listening" is lending your ear to the very existence of the other person.
What is truly necessary in fortune-telling is this attitude of "listening." Furthermore, since regaining the vision in my right eye, I have become strongly conscious of the difference between "seeing" and "observing."
To see is to recognize what is reflected in the eyes. To observe is to try to feel the meaning, background, and essence of the person hidden behind it.
It is the same in readings. Just looking at a chart is not enough. It is necessary to observe the client's life. In Oriental medicine, there is
the four diagnostic methods of "looking, listening, asking, and touching."Looking is observing, listening is hearing the voice, asking is questioning, and touching is feeling the pulse. It is wisdom that seeks to understand the whole person, not just the illness.I believe this concept of the four diagnostic methods also applies to excellent fortune-telling. Observe the expression. Listen to the voice. Ask repeated questions. And read the pulse of life that is the chart.
That is why, in recent years, I have
begun to re-examine Oriental fortune-telling from the perspective of medical anthropology.Medical anthropology is a field of study that seeks to understand not just the illness, but also the culture, values, and human relationships in which the person lives.I believe that fortune-telling also only holds true meaning when it understands what environment the person grew up in, what values they hold, and what kind of life they are trying to walk, rather than a simple judgment of "good luck or bad luck."
As I have gained more experience, I have become convinced. An excellent fortune-teller is not someone who predicts the future. They are someone who can listen deeply to a life. They are someone who can observe a person carefully.
And they are someone who can quietly illuminate the possibilities that the person has not yet noticed, and walk alongside them, saying, "You can walk this path."
The future is not something to be prophesied. It is something that takes shape through dialogue. Neither fortune-telling nor counseling is magic that changes people. The one who changes is always the person themselves.
However, there are times when a person cannot change alone. When someone listens deeply, observes them as they are, and believes in their potential, only then can a person take their next step.
That is why today, too, before I read a chart, I listen to a person's life. Reading a fortune is not about deciding a life. It is about listening to a life and lighting a small lamp so that the person themselves can regain the power to choose their own future.
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