Monday, April 21, 2008

The True Fortune Teller, 1698






















IM UP IN UR GRILL, PREDICTIN UR FUCHUR

Astrology, palmistry, divination, and other crazy prognosticating systems were pretty popular in the Renaissance, but I'd never heard of Metoposcopy until I came across this. I guess it's sort of like Phrenology, using wrinkles to try to divine a person's future or tell their fortune instead of the shape of the skull. The book I took the image from is a how-to guide for reading palms and faces, understanding astrological signs, and interpreting dreams.

Oh, Renaissance. Why did you love this stupid shit so much?

3 comments:

Katie said...

It's also pretty funny that the "three wrinkles" are so important, yet the drawing shows a person who clearly has FOUR wrinkles. I guess that denotes that the illustrator needs to go back to art school.

Sarah Redmond said...

Oh Katie, you clearly know nothing about Metoposcopy. The lower line is actually made up of two arched lines above the eyes, which denotes the number of abortions you will receive from SatanCat. The crows feet denote how many sheep he will give you. It's a very exact science.

Doug said...

I learned all about various abortion techniques last week in school, and how they're broken down into categories like D&E and D&X, etc. and now I'm wondering if SatanCat uses an evacuation or an extraction technique.
I'm thinking it's D&X, since Justice Scalia called it the "visibly brutal means of eliminating our half-born posterity."
I hate that guy, but he can write a comical opinion.