ジャッキーの これ、どう思う？ While we're on the topic ...

ジャッキーが日本にいる時にチェックしていたという星占いのサイト http://www.astralreflections.com JACKIE HOFFART PHOTOS

Part of me doesn't really believe in fortune-telling, psychics, horoscopes or any kind of thing where someone tells you about your future. I mean, how do they know what will happen? My rational mind thinks it's all a scam.

But my emotional mind, or my more spiritual self, thinks it might be possible that some people are able to understand certain things that the rest of us don't.

The truth is I'm afraid of psychics. Maybe it's because I'm a control freak and I don't like the idea of not being able to control my own destiny — the idea that life might be predetermined, that I don't have free will. But fearing it means I partially believe in it, which leads me to a big confession.

One day in the autumn of 2008, when I was still living in Tokyo, I met a man who said he was leaving Japan because a psychic told him that in December 2009 a really big earthquake was going to hit Tokyo. I thought he was nuts, but I never forgot what he said and, I have to admit, it scared me. I've always been skittish about earthquakes — I didn't grow up experiencing them and even a tiny shake deeply frightens me. So when an opportunity to leave the country came up in the middle of 2009, a small factor in deciding to leave Japan was actually about my fear of "the big one."

Well, the psychic was obviously wrong. But then 3/11 happened. If the psychic was one year, four months, and several prefectures off, does that still count as an accurate prediction? It's splitting hairs, but the point is: It's still freaky.

I read my horoscope sometimes. I don't take it too seriously, but I can often identify with it. The deeper you get into learning about signs, the more it seems to make sense. I enjoy them in the same way I enjoy bad TV, it's a sort of guilty pleasure. I think the reason people engage with star signs and animal signs is because it gives us a language to understand each other's personality traits. Astrology gives us a kind of template, a set of expectations for how people are, how they might react to something, how they might mix with others.

I've heard about the controversial psychic in Japan, the one who everyone thinks was mind-controlling a comedian, while living with her. I'm not really interested in the specifics of that story, but what I do find interesting is psychics having such a high profile in Japan. I've seen famous psychics on Japanese television, but I can't think of a single famous psychic in Canada. The entire profession is not very respected in mainstream North American culture. Psychic hotlines are the fodder of comedians. To embrace the teachings of a psychic in Canada or the U.S. would mean that you are very "alternative," or even "New Age," as compared to mainstream culture.

I think it's a case of so-called Western values. Mysticism is one of those things erroneously considered to be an "Eastern" value. It's not, really, but the dominance of 18th-century European philosophy, and its approach to art and science, means that this feels true, even though mysticism is every bit as Western as it is Eastern.

Actually, I am really tempted to go see a psychic. I can't deny that I'm curious. But I also don't want anyone to tell me about my future. Really exciting and unpredictable things are happening for me right now, and I don't want anyone to ruin the surprise. How about you? Write in and tell me if you ever visit a fortune-teller or a psychic. If enough of you think I should go visit, maybe I will! I guess you could say we'll let fate decide.

Next time: My topic is ... tanning