Why Us?

Fortune-telling is a modern way for people to seek to avoid misfortune and pursue good fortune, such as checking if the coming year will be smooth. Fortune-telling has persisted for thousands of years due to the accumulation of statistical data. Research shows that people tend to seek fortune-telling when facing stress and feeling less confident.

The scientific community generally considers fortune-telling to be pseudoscience, mainly due to cognitive biases and the Forer effect in psychology.

To date, formal studies do not support the authenticity of fortune-telling or divination. Research also indicates that fortune-telling cannot truly predict a person's personality traits or fate. As mentioned above, a long-term study that began in 1958 involving more than 2,000 people born around the same time in the London area found no similarities in their personality, career, intelligence, anxiety levels, and various skills. According to astrology, these people should have very similar characteristics. Additionally, a study involving more than 700 fortune-tellers showed that despite their confidence in their predictions, their results were no better than random guesses.

Core Theory

The core theory is based on the concepts of Yin and Yang, the Five Elements, Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, and the Eight Trigrams of the I Ching. The theoretical system is quite complex and profound. In a narrow sense, fortune-telling specifically refers to predicting a person's fate based on their birth date and time.

There are many methods of fortune-telling, and these methods are often considered a discipline known as "Mingli Xue" (the study of fate), which also falls under the category of physiognomy. Learned fortune-tellers link fortune-telling to the I Ching, one of the Five Classics. Fortune-tellers usually are also proficient in one or two forms of divination, and some are knowledgeable in Feng Shui.

Since Ancient Times

Xiao Liuren originates from the "Supplemented Xu Zhenjun's Complete Jade Casket Record," known as "Li Chunfeng's Liuren Time Lessons." It is an ancient method of divination based on finger calculations, derived from the Six Yao Calendar Annotation and the Six Wheels Wu Method ("The Complete Home Use Encyclopedia: Six Wheels Wu Method").

In practice, the positions "Great Peace, Lingering, Rapid Joy, Red Mouth, Minor Fortune, and Void" are assigned to the index, middle, and ring fingers. By cycling through the "month, day, and hour," one can determine the fortune, with Great Peace, Rapid Joy, and Minor Fortune being auspicious, and the others inauspicious. This method is referenced in Ming and Qing Dynasty vernacular novels, such as "Awakening the World to Marriage" and "Sui and Tang Dynasties," where characters use it for divination.

The positions "Great Peace, Lingering, Rapid Joy, Red Mouth, Minor Fortune, and Void" correspond to the six gods of the Twelve Heavenly Generals in the Liuren style: "Azure Dragon, Black Tortoise, Vermilion Bird, White Tiger, Six Harmonies, and Hooked Chen." This correspondence might be why the method is called Liuren Time Lessons or Xiao Liuren.