In the corners in Plaza Miranda in Quiapo exist some of the most colorful and bizarre characters of downtown Manila. In this small and cluttered universe one can meet a motley array of curious personalities: faith-healers, black magicians, psychics, divine mystics, living saints and gods, and fortune tellers.
The fortune tellers have been around in Quiapo for as long as anyone can remember. They are called in the local parlance manghuhula or fortune-tellers--people who can "read" one's future through divination. For a minimal donation ranging from 50 to 150 pesos, you can consult them about your future and plans, whether in love, business, health, and just about anything you can think of. They also interpret dreams, albeit not in the scientific method of Freud.
The common methods used by these soothsayers are palmistry, tarot reading, graphology (analyzing one’s fortune through one’s handwriting), and numerology (relationship of numbers to one’s personality and future). I noticed that a few of them also use crystal balls to read a customer’s future.
Many of the fortune-tellers in Quiapo are old and middle-aged women, although there are also a few young women in their thirties, as well as some middle-aged men. They don’t have a permanent place in Plaza Miranda, and it’s like they just sit around wherever there is a space available. They cluster together so their regular customers can easily spot them. Apparently, each fortune teller has loyal customers who wouldn’t want to consult with other fortune-tellers.
One Quiapo fortune teller I have interviewed is Madame Delea Loren, of Tondo, Manila. Born in 1950, Madame Delea is a 60-year old veteran among the Quiapo soothsayers. Of them all, Madame Delea displays the exuberance of the ultimate fortune-teller: the image of a mysterious gypsy woman swathed in colorful scarves. She told me that her gift of prophecy came from the Senor Nazareno. Apparently, she started divination as a teen-ager, reading palms and numbers associated with people. She gained a following and eventually settled in Plaza Miranda in 1980, because the place,was already known as the center of divination in downtown Manila.
Some of Madame Delea's tools for divination are the Raider-Waite tarot deck, now worn and old through much use, and some mystical stones known in Quiapo as "mutya." She used to have a crystal ball, too, she says, but her pet cat shattered it into pieces. She therefore does only tarot and palm reading nowadays. According to her, she doesn't charge a fee for her fortune-telling services, but rather asks for a "donation" at a minimum of 50 pesos.
I asked Madame Delea if she could give me a reading of my future. She looked straight into my eyes and whispered: "Concentrate!" I did. She then shuffled the Tarot deck and asked me to pick one card. The card showed a prince in a grand royal attire. "You're lucky!" She declared to me. "You have a bright future. Your business will become prosperous, you will have many employees!" Indeed, I felt I was lucky even though I didn't have a business and a single employee! Yet I felt I must believe her, so I can justify taking the risk of being caught by friends consulting a fortune-teller.
I told Madame Delea of the back pain that had always bothered me. "I can heal that!" she declared. She asked her assistant to hand her a bottle oil. She stood behind me and started to rub the oil on my hurting back. But to my disgust, she also began spitting on my now oily back. Repeatedly. I had to tell her it was enough -- that the pain had gone away. It was a white lie I told so she could stop showering my back with her spittle.
Fortunately, the bells of the church started tolling, announcing six o' clock. She abruptly left me without a word, and raised her hands in front of the church, just like what Kristong Hari always does, praying and singing mysterious chants.
After this bizarre episode, she returned to me, and I asked how much I owed her. "Oh, any amount will do, but I usually receive 50 to 150 donation from my clients." That was the hint. I gave her 200 and thanked her for her time and allowing me to photograph her work. Meantime, some teen-aged girls from a nearby college had arrived to seek the advice of the Madame.
As I bade my adieus and started to leave, Madame Delea requested copies of her picture, which I promised to provide her upon my return. She smiled and waved her hand. And then, facing her new clients, she began to shuffle once more her old Tarot deck, each of the worn cards showing infinite possibilities of what the future holds for those who believed.
*Kristong Hari: A Quiapo Mystic
**After my oracle session with Madame Delea, Kristong Hari, who was just a few meters away from us, whispered to me, and I came forward to meet him. "You shouldn't believe in her" he warned, "She is a fake and just used to be my assistant". I assured Kristong Hari that I never fully believed in fortune-telling. I was in a hurry so I said goodbye, and he was left there in Plaza Miranda, still roaming around blessing people.
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