A soothsayer is someone who claims to be able to predict the future. Long ago, a soothsayer was considered a useful consultant, even for a government. Today soothsayers are more likely to be scoffed at, but there are still many soothsayers who have successful businesses telling people’s fortunes and giving advice.
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We are at the stage of the year where we look back at what we have seen, while looking forward in wonder of what we are going to see. Doing so, being insecure with ourselves and our own thoughts and opinions, we look for the aid of a soothsayer to keep us informed of doomsday.
A soothsayer is someone who claims to be able to predict the future. Long ago, a soothsayer was considered a useful consultant, even for a government. Today soothsayers are more likely to be scoffed at, but there are still many soothsayers who have successful businesses telling people’s fortunes and giving advice.
The word “soothsayer” comes from the Old English word for “truth,” combined with “say,” together meaning “an act of speaking the truth.”
There has been a list of soothsayers telling their truths even into modern history. After Ronald Reagan’s assassination attempt in 1981, Nancy sought the advice of soothsayer Joan Quigley. From that point on, no presidential appearance was made without first consulting Quigley.
Edgar Cayce was a soothsayer who made his predictions by entering a trance-like state. While he was in his trance, people would ask him questions about their future. Cayce theorized that the unconscious mind had access to all kinds of information that the conscious mind didn’t. He made more than 20,000 predictions from the early 20th Century until his death in 1944. His predictions included the Great Depression and Hitler, which happened. However, his predictions of California crumbling into the ocean, or the discovery of Atlantis have yet to occur.
The, not so, Amazing Criswell became famous despite the inaccuracy of his predictions. His predictions included that by the time the world came to an end in 1999 we would all have resorted to cannibalism. Mae West would become President of the United States. He did say however that JFK wouldn’t run for re-election in 1964 because something was going to happen to him.
The Nechung Oracle is a soothsayer for both prophecies and warnings regularly used today. He’s the State Oracle of Tibet and lives with the Dalai Lama. The Nechung Oracle has been the protector of Tibet since the Eighth Century. In1947, the acting Nechung Oracle accurately predicted that Tibet was headed for times of trouble and that the Dalai Lama would have to flee Tibet, both of which happened. Today, the current Nechung, who was born in 1958, grows flowers and speaks perfect English.
No list of soothsayers would be complete without Michel de Nostredame, who lived from December 1503 to July 1566. His predictions still pop up on a regular basis and jar people’s secure feelings when they are able to connect them to current events.
Nostradamus himself would probably object to this behavior because he mentioned numerous times that he didn’t see himself as a prophet. One thing he did allegedly get right was his death. On July 1, 1566, it is told that he said, “You will not find me alive at sunrise.” The next morning, Nostradamus was found on the floor next to his bed, dead.
Nostradamus’ predictions are far too numerous to mention and the interpretations and accuracy of each one have been heavily debated for years. A couple of Nostradamus’ predictions that did not come true in 2023 were: man stepping on Mars for the first time in history and a catastrophe called World War III.
Projections for 2024, according to Nostradamus, are vague but include climate catastrophes of parched earth and great floods, a new Pope, King of the Isles, facing controversy and eventual removal and combat and naval battle with a Red adversary. While Nostradamus’ doomsday predictions seem bleak, fear not, most have not come true.
The art of intercepting the future is not new and people still believe in predictions. From an early age, we respond to uncertainty by spontaneously generating plausible explanations. Once we have explanations, to feel in control, we don’t let go of them. It’s even stronger now as the Internet feeds on these considerations about what will, what won’t and what may be.
