Hanoi, Vietnam – Nguyen Duy Cuong, the proprietor of a constructing supplies firm in Ho Chi Minh, can hardly wait to ask his fortuneteller to take 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 through the pandemic as a consequence of a rising shopper base drawn by the comfort of providers provided 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 probably be very hectic, so I’ve to e-book him nicely prematurely,” Cuong, who was born in 1955, informed Al Jazeera.
Cuong will depend on his fortuneteller’s recommendation for all the things from the association of the furnishings in his workplace and hiring staff, to the timing of his enterprise journeys through the upcoming lunar yr.
“I’m doing fairly nicely this yr 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 lots 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 have to flip to Grasp. I’m non secular, however not superstitious”.
In Vietnam, many enterprise house owners, whether or not huge or small, or non-public or state-owned, seek the advice of fortunetellers for steering on company selections.
Fortunetellers, spirit mediums, and different supernatural guides are standard in formally secular Vietnam [File: Kham/Reuters]Whereas solely about 14 p.c of the inhabitants in formally Communist Vietnam apply a proper faith, often Catholicism or Buddhism, spirituality permeates each nook and cranny of the society.
For a lot of Vietnamese, consulting a fortuneteller just isn’t solely a strategy to acquire peace of thoughts, but additionally specific respect for supernatural forces. In Vietnamese tradition, life and loss of life are decided by destiny, whereas prosperity and privileges depend on heaven. Success requires not solely expertise and laborious work, however supernaturally-granted success generally known as loc. To domesticate such success, 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 idea 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 steadily purchasers search fortunetelling,” mentioned Dung, who requested to be referred to solely by her enterprise identify.
Relying on familiarity together with her purchasers, Dung affords 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 strategy centered on sensible problem-solving.
“I at all times inform my purchasers that destiny may be modified by their improved ethical conduct, and my messages typically sound optimistic, 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 resembling 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 had been deemed backward and inimical to the social order.
In 2006, the US State Division eliminated Vietnam from the listing of “international locations of specific concern” with respect to spiritual freedom.
Nonetheless, the nation’s Spiritual Affairs Committee continues to watch non secular organisations and discourage the unfold of “heterodox superstitions”.
Practitioners of divination, fortunetelling, spirit summoning and different types of mysticism may be fined for profiting off of their actions, though the legislation is obscure concerning the parameters of what’s and isn’t allowed.
The authorized gray space hasn’t stopped Communist Celebration members from availing of fortunetelling providers themselves.
Amongst 15,101 Celebration members disciplined between 2016 and 2020, 7,692 had been accused of involvement in playing, reckless consuming, superstition, or supporting or taking part in an unlawful non secular group.
‘Age and destiny’
For companies, taking note of supernatural considerations may also 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 “non secular” elements along with his purchasers following an expertise during which a shopper modified her thoughts concerning the color of a brand after consulting with a fortuneteller.
The shopper was informed blue wouldn’t be suitable together with her yr of delivery and “destiny”. After some backwards and forwards, Hoa and his shopper 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 brand’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.”
