Astral, metaphysical beliefs and practices in Eskişehir central districts

This study comprehensively evaluates the beliefs and practices of individuals living in the central districts of Eskişehir regarding fortune telling, astral travel and metaphysical beings within the framework of folklore. The main purpose of the study is to reveal the historical roots of fortune telling practices, their social and individual functions, their place in cultural continuity and the transformations they have undergone in the digitalization process, supported by data obtained from oral sources living in the central districts of Eskişehir and literature studies. With this data, the research aims to examine how fortune telling has evolved in a social and cultural context and its effects on individuals. Within the scope of the research, oral interviews were conducted with forty oral sources within the scope of ethical rules and the narratives obtained with open-ended questions were evaluated with the content analysis method. In the study, traditional fortune telling types and modern digital fortune telling practices were comparatively examined; the meanings individuals attribute to fortune telling practices, the ways they organize social relations, their functions in meeting spiritual needs and gender roles were analyzed in the context of social relationships. In addition, the social relationships of people who practice fortune telling as a profession and the dynamics of these relationships were examined. From this point of view, the representation of belief elements such as astral body, metaphysical beings and talismans in folk culture and the effects of these elements on verbal sources are also evaluated. The findings show that metaphysical practices have important cultural functions not only on the individual but also on the social level.