The Fortune Teller Julia Jay spends her nights walking the Pham Ngu Lao circuit in District 1 where she goes from business to business plying her trade. Wielding a pack of tarot cards, intuition, and knowledge of the palm, Jay probably has one of the most unique jobs of any expat in the city, supporting herself entirely through fortune telling. Born in Sussex, England, Jay first learned the ways of a fortune teller at age 8 from a friend of her adopted grandmother. She practiced her craft casually before leaving England at 19 and heading to Asia, where she has spent most of her adult life. Choosing a transient lifestyle, Jay began buying precious stones and silver in India and selling them in Greece, where a friend gave her a pack of tarot cards. This is crucial because true fortune tellers can only be gifted the cards, which cannot be bought. She then moved on to Bali, where she ran a guesthouse for 10 years and, more
importantly, became interested in meditation. The meditation led to the honing of her fortune-telling skills. “I believe I’m 100 percent accurate,” she says. “I wouldn’t be doing it if I weren’t.” She adds that her repeat customers are also proof that her abilities aren’t to be scoffed at. Her clients are mainly Vietnamese, perhaps unsurprising in a country where many life decisions are based on fortune telling. Many hire her to come to their homes. “The Vietnamese are very knowledgeable about fortune telling,” she says. “They are very demanding and know exactly what to ask.” Citing personal principles, Jay never reveals to others what she discovers in a reading. But she says there are often nights when an ordinary, 15-minute reading turns into an emotional two or three-hour session ending with the customer in tears. “After some nights I feel completely emo-
tionally drained,” she says. “I try to only do six readings a night.” She also says she has gained a good reputation among the Vietnamese. On one occasion, a lackey for a local mafia-type came searching her out to set up a session for the boss. “Afterwards he [the mafioso] ordered loads of beer and insisted on me staying there,” she says. “Then I asked the translator, ‘He’s happy with me, right?’ and he said, ‘Yes, he loves you. You’re 90 percent correct.’” Foreigners in Vietnam, on the other hand, have more mixed feelings about her. “Some tourists, mainly young English guys, in a foreign country for the first time are feeling unnerved and want to show off,” she says. “They can sometimes give me a hard time.” But others are more open, even the more scientifically minded who dismiss fortune telling altogether. “You can’t judge somebody until you’ve tried it,” she says. asialife HCMC 21