or maybe its a pile of psudoscientific nonsense designed to con gullible people.
The techniques, at least, have plenty of history behind them. The mathematical basis was ultimately ancient astronomy and climatology(they determined that the stars move in their relative positions in particular cycles, as do the seasons, and trends spanning over multiple years and attempted to explain it as best as they could, in association with other known cycles). So no, not quite designed to con people. It's outdated pre-science with plenty of history, if limited evidence behind it(that would be why it's pre-science rather than actually science). The parallel endeavors in alchemy netted gunpowder after all.
It's still fun to read though. Basically, once you got what each number corresponds to, you can then find the elemental associations, and thus the tendencies that affect that aspect of life. These all include positives and negatives(though some have more troubles than others). Clearer fortune readings than that requires adjusting for family circumstances, and is generally less reliable.
