All throughout history, there has been reports of people who knew the future or could derive or change it in some way. There were many ways of doing this, whether by cutting animals open and reading the innards, or visions that were seen outside of the waking hours.
Among the famous people of the past who saw the future was Cassandra, a very famous seer from Greek Myth. She was directly involved in the famous tale of Troy, and is a character of tragedy in the popular book beloved by high schools everywhere The Iliad. In myth, Cassandra was blessed to always speak true prophecies, but she was cursed so that no one would ever believe what she predicted. However, there was another way the Greeks predicted the future, the Oracle of Delphi. The Oracle of Delphi was a maiden who was blessed by Apollo with the ability to see into the future and turn it into a short cryptic riddle that could equally help or harm the citizens who tried to interpret the prediction.
The Greek weren’t the only ones who believed in predicting the future and had prominent figures in their culture however. Another famous figure in history is the French ‘seer’ Nostradamus. He wrote many different predictions and then published them in book form. Many people believe that he predicted things like the rise of Hitler and 9/11, while others claim that at least a couple of his future divining poems were bound to be interpreted in a way that seemed like future events when he had nearly a thousand of them and were very open to different interpretations.
The Romans had a form of divining the future as well, and the person who was delegated to this task was called an Augur. The Augur would foretell the future and whether or not the gods would be pleased with a certain course of action by studying the behaviour of birds and cutting animals open as a sacrifice and reading their entrails.
Societies of the past also commonly had deities they believed in that controlled the future, like the Greeks Fates, the Romans Parcae, or the Norses Norns. All three groups consisted of three women that were able to tell the future and in fact, controlled it as well. There were many other deities as well, and some societies believed that they could change the future and their luck if they completed certain rituals. These rituals could allegedly help in different aspects of the people’s lives, like how well their crops were doing, how fertile they people were, or if they would be protected against evil spirits. These rituals were completed only on certain days, such as Samhain (or the more modern Hallowe’en), Yule (which was later turned into Christmas by the Christians), Beltane, or Midsummer. Many of the holidays were built around the solstices and the equinoxes. Beltane, for example is the midway between the spring equinox and the summer solstice, while Midsummer is based around on the summer solstice.
Now, you may be thinking that all these people and holidays have one thing in common besides the obvious; they lived or happened a very long time ago, or in the case of Cassandra, may not have existed at all. However, most of the holidays from the old days have persisted into modern times in some way or form, or are actually still celebrated. Midsummer for example is not celebrated in America, but is celebrated in other places like Sweden or Germany. In addition, there are still cases today of people telling the future such as fortune tellers and psychics.
The idea of prophecy and seeing the future still pervades strongly all across the world. Prophecy’s are a common trope in books and movies, such as the Harry Potter books, the Percy Jackson books, the TV show Merlin, and millions of others. In fact, a prophecy is a common trope in the Hero’s journey, something that many believe most if not all stories follow.
With all the speculation and the long running belief, is it possible that people actually can see the future, or is it all make believe?
More Info
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/augur#note-1
https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofScotland/Helen-Duncan-Scotlands-last-witch/
https://www.historyextra.com/period/20th-century/helen-duncan-scotland-witch-ectoplasm-spirits/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassandra
https://www.businessinsider.com/predictions-of-nostradamus-2011-12
https://www.biography.com/news/nostradamus-predictions
The Augur 