Hanoi, Vietnam – Nguyen Duy Cuong, the proprietor of a constructing supplies firm in Ho Chi Minh, can hardly wait to ask his fortuneteller to have a look at his enterprise plans for the 12 months of Tiger, which begins on February 1.
Cuong’s fortuneteller, who has suggested him for the previous 12 years, has been particularly busy throughout the pandemic as a result of a rising consumer base drawn by the comfort of providers supplied on-line.
Like many Vietnamese when discussing a favoured fortuneteller, spirit medium or geomancer, Cuong refers to his information as “Grasp”.
“Within the subsequent few weeks, Grasp’s schedule will likely be very hectic, so I’ve to e-book him properly upfront,” Cuong, who was born in 1955, informed Al Jazeera.
Cuong will depend on his fortuneteller’s recommendation for every part from the association of the furnishings in his workplace and hiring workers, to the timing of his enterprise journeys throughout the upcoming lunar 12 months.
“I’m doing fairly properly this 12 months regardless of the pandemic. It appears that evidently my heartfelt gratitude to the spirits paid off,” mentioned Cuong, who sometimes pays about 1 million Vietnamese dong ($45) for a two-hour session. “I’ve rather a lot to thank my Grasp for.”
Regardless of counting on superstitions, Cuong is insistent he can inform an actual deal fortuneteller other than fraudsters and opportunists.
“I belief science and my very own instinct,” he mentioned. “For inexplicable issues in life, I need to flip to Grasp. I’m religious, however not superstitious”.
In Vietnam, many enterprise house owners, whether or not massive or small, or non-public or state-owned, seek the advice of fortunetellers for steerage on company choices.
Whereas solely about 14 % of the inhabitants in formally Communist Vietnam observe a proper faith, often Catholicism or Buddhism, spirituality permeates each nook and cranny of the society.
For a lot of Vietnamese, consulting a fortuneteller is just not solely a method to achieve peace of thoughts, but additionally specific respect for supernatural forces. In Vietnamese tradition, life and dying are decided by destiny, whereas prosperity and privileges depend on heaven. Success requires not solely expertise and arduous work, however supernaturally-granted luck often known as loc. To domesticate such luck, Vietnamese perform rituals to precise their gratitude to the heavens and their ancestors.
Cuong’s enterprise, like many in Vietnam, comprises an altar to the Chinese language God of Wealth and the God of Land, at which his assistant – who was partly employed on the premise of his Chinese language zodiac signal and look – prepares fruit choices on the first and fifteenth day of the lunar month.
Grasp Dung, a 28-year-old horoscopist in Hanoi, informed Al Jazeera that her purchasers most frequently sought readings about their well being or enterprise plans.
“The larger and riskier their funding is, the extra often purchasers search fortunetelling,” mentioned Dung, who requested to be referred to solely by her enterprise title.
Relying on familiarity along with her purchasers, Dung presents completely different packages starting from $9 to $36 per one-hour session.
Dung mentioned that whereas fortune tellers based mostly their recommendation on the horoscope, her method targeted on sensible problem-solving.
“I at all times inform my purchasers that destiny might be modified by their improved ethical conduct, and my messages usually sound constructive, in any other case they may at all times really feel dangerous and by no means come again,” Dung mentioned.
In formally secular Vietnam, a transparent distinction is made between formal religions and ritualistic practices akin to palm studying and ancestral worship.
Following financial liberalisation within the Eighties, the Communist authorities relaxed its enforcement of war-time anti-superstition legal guidelines, underneath which many people practices have been deemed backward and inimical to the social order.
In 2006, the US State Division eliminated Vietnam from the checklist of “nations of specific concern” with respect to non secular freedom.
Nonetheless, the nation’s Non secular Affairs Committee continues to observe spiritual organisations and discourage the unfold of “heterodox superstitions”.
Practitioners of divination, fortunetelling, spirit summoning and different types of mysticism might be fined for profiting off of their actions, though the regulation is imprecise concerning the parameters of what’s and isn’t allowed.
The authorized gray space hasn’t stopped Communist Social gathering members from availing of fortunetelling providers themselves.
Amongst 15,101 Social gathering members disciplined between 2016 and 2020, 7,692 have been accused of involvement in playing, reckless consuming, superstition, or supporting or collaborating in an unlawful spiritual group.
‘Age and destiny’
For companies, being attentive to supernatural issues can even merely be a matter of guaranteeing issues run extra easily.
Tran Thanh Hoa, a younger freelance designer in Da Nang, at all times brings up “religious” components along with his purchasers following an expertise by which a consumer modified her thoughts concerning the color of a emblem after consulting with a fortuneteller.
The consumer was informed blue wouldn’t be suitable along with her 12 months of beginning and “destiny”. After some backwards and forwards, Hoa and his consumer opted for purple as a greater match.
“Since then, I’ve at all times requested my purchasers in the event that they care about their emblem’s compatibility with their age and destiny”, Hoa informed Al Jazeera. “I don’t assume it’s superstition. It’s a legitimate concern as a result of logos inform folks what manufacturers actually stand for.”