Fortune-telling is the practice of predicting

Prediction

A prediction or forecast is a statement about the way things will happen in the future, often but not always based on experience or knowledge...

 information about a person's life. The scope of fortune-telling is in principle identical with the practice of divination

Divination

Divination is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic standardized process or ritual...

. The difference is that divination is the term used for predictions considered part of a religious

Religion

Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...

 ritual, invoking deities or spirits, while the term fortune-telling implies a less serious or formal setting, even one of popular culture

Popular culture

Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...

, where belief in occult workings behind the prediction is less prominent than the concept of suggestion

Suggestion

Suggestion is the psychological process by which one person guides the thoughts, feelings, or behaviour of another. Nineteenth century writers on psychology such as William James used the words "suggest" and "suggestion" in senses close to those they have in common speech—one idea was said to...

, spiritual or practical advisory

Advice (opinion)

Advice is a form of relating personal or institutional opinions, belief systems, values, recommendations or guidance about certain situations relayed in some context to another person, group or party often offered as a guide to action and/or conduct...

 or affirmation

Affirmations (New Age)

Affirmations in New Age and New Thought terminology refers primarily to the practice of positive thinking—fostering a belief that "a positive mental attitude supported by affirmations will achieve success in anything." More specifically an affirmation is a carefully formatted statement that should...

.

Historically, fortune-telling grows out of folkloristic

Folklore

Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...

 reception of Renaissance magic

Renaissance magic

Renaissance humanism saw a resurgence in hermeticism and Neo-Platonic varieties of ceremonial magic.The Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution, on the other hand, saw the rise of scientism, in such forms as the substitution of chemistry for alchemy, the dethronement of the Ptolemaic theory of...

, specifically associated with gypsies.

During the 19th and 20th century, methods of divination

Methods of divination

Innumerable methods of divination can be found around the world, and many cultures practice the same methods under different names. During the Middle Ages, scholars coined terms for many of these methods — some of which had hitherto been unnamed — in Medieval Latin, very often utilizing the suffix...

 from non-Western cultures, such as the I Ching

I Ching

The I Ching or "Yì Jīng" , also known as the Classic of Changes, Book of Changes and Zhouyi, is one of the oldest of the Chinese classic texts...

, were also adopted as methods of fortune-telling in western popular culture.
An example of divination or fortune-telling as purely an item of pop culture, with little or no vestiges of belief in the occult, would be the Magic 8-Ball

Magic 8-ball

The Magic 8 Ball is a toy used for fortune-telling or seeking advice, manufactured by Mattel.-Origin:While Magic 8-Ball did not exist in its current form until 1950, the functional component was invented by Albert C. Carter, who was inspired by a "spirit writing" device used by his mother, Mary, a...

sold as a toy by Mattel

Mattel

Mattel, Inc. is the world's largest toy company based on revenue. The products it produces include Fisher Price, Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels and Matchbox toys, Masters of the Universe, American Girl dolls, board games, and, in the early 1980s, video game consoles. The company's name is derived from...

, or Paul II, a cephalopod of the Sea Life Aquarium

Sea Life Centres

Sea Life Centres are a chain of commercial sealife-themed attractions. There are twenty-six centres located in Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Denmark, Italy, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom , and the United States...

 at Oberhausen

Oberhausen

Oberhausen is a city on the river Emscher in the Ruhr Area, Germany, located between Duisburg and Essen . The city hosts the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and its Gasometer Oberhausen is an anchor point of the European Route of Industrial Heritage. It is also well known for the...

 used to predict the outcome of matches played by the German national football team.

There is opposition against fortune-telling in Christianity

Christianity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

 and Judaism

Judaism

Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...

 based on biblical prohibitions against divination.