In the previous article ("Forces and signs of fate. Prophets, politicians and commanders") we gave four advice to potential prophets and soothsayers and talked about the predictions that politicians and generals received. At the beginning of this article, let's talk about predictions not for people and not even for countries, but for the planet Earth and all of humanity.
End of the world
The tradition of predicting all kinds of disasters, and even death, to our poor planet has been going on for thousands of years. The most famous of these predictions is the Apocalypse of the Apostle John.
So Pope Sylvester II also did not waste time on trifles and predicted not a fire or someone's death, but immediately the end of the world. And inadvertently named its exact date: January 1, 1000. Thus, he provoked a wave of panic throughout Europe, part of the population of which fasted and prayed, while others, apparently, not hoping for salvation, on the contrary, went into all seriousness. The end of the world never came, and the disappointed Romans expelled the pontiff (and at the same time the emperor Otto III) to Ravenna the following year. Later, Sylvester still returned to his duties, but shocks crippled his health, and he died in 1003.
Another Pope, Innocent III (who initiated the Albigensian Wars and organized the IV Crusade - the "Latins" then captured Orthodox Constantinople), "calculated" a new date for the End of the World: 1284 - 666th after the emergence of Islam. This pope wisely did not live up to the date indicated by him.
In Russia, many expected the end of the world in 1492 - the seven thousandth from the creation of the world, since it was believed that our world was created by God precisely for 7 thousand years.
At the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries, apocalyptic sentiments were widespread in Italy. Botticelli presented his painting "Mystical Christmas" to the public in the following way:
“I, Sandro, painted this picture at the end of 1500, at a difficult time for Italy, after half the time predicted in the 11th chapter of the Revelation of St. John, in the second bowl of wrath from the Apocalypse, when Satan was given power over the Earth for three seconds. half a year."
That is, the end of the world was expected in 1504.
In England, the Great London Fire, which raged from September 2 to 5, 1666, was considered a harbinger of the End of the World - and again they did not guess.
The well-known Tommaso Campanella predicted the collision of the Earth and the Sun in 1603.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the French astronomer Camille Flamarion already knew that the collision of the Earth and the Sun was unlikely, but he really wanted to shandrack his home planet with something. Chose Halley's comet, which was supposed to arrive in 1910. He said that she would either collide with the Earth, destroying all living things, or poison everyone with poisonous gases from her tail.
Alexander Blok wrote to his mother:
"Its tail, consisting of synerod, can poison our atmosphere, and all of us, having made peace before death, will sweetly fall asleep from the bitter smell of almonds on a quiet night, looking at a beautiful comet."
The crooks in the USA (worthy heirs of Jeff Peters and Andy Tucker, heroes of O. Henry) immediately began to sell the "antidote".
Mark Twain, born in the year of the previous appearance of this comet (1835) in 1909, said that he would be disappointed if he did not die on her next visit. The comet did not disappoint him - he died.
Igor Severyanin wrote in the poem "Sexina":
A premonition is more painful than a comet, Unknown but visible everywhere
Let's listen to what the signs say
About a painful, painful star …
The end of the world, hidden in a star -
The secret destination of the comet …
I see death coming in a star …
It is coming, it is already everywhere!..
Wing hello to the avenging star."
In general, creepy, but when nothing happened, many were disappointed.
And 9 years later, another "misfortune" happened - the "parade of planets", and the American astronomer and meteorologist Albert Port told everyone that for this reason the Sun must certainly explode. On December 17, 1919, after making sure that our star remained unharmed, Port found the strength to make a public apology. It is hard to believe it, but in 1999 some also expected some catastrophes from the next “parade of planets”, which took place on May 5th.
On January 1, 2000, the funniest end of the world of all possible was appointed: on that day, all computers on Earth were supposed to go crazy and plunge the humanity who recklessly trusted them into chaos. Some people made good money on this scam.
On December 21, 2012, many people expected the end of the world, predicted by the wise Maya Indians, who were too lazy to continue their calendar beyond this "ominous" date. The smart ones made money by making films, opening courses on survival in the conditions of the apocalypse, building underground bunkers and selling tickets to ready-made ones. The stupid ones, as usual, paid for it all.
The unfulfilled prediction of the "end of the world" is also attributed to the now popular Blessed Matrona of Moscow:
“Without wars, everyone on Earth will die. And it will be in 2017”.
It should have happened as follows:
“At the end of the day, all people will fall to the ground, and at sunrise they will rise, and the world will be different. And great sorrows await people, which they have not yet experienced."
Currently, Russian Orthodox Church officials deny the authenticity of this prophecy, claiming that Matrona was simply misunderstood.
From this series of curious expectations of the Apocalypse, two truly terrible cases stand out.
In the spring of 1997, the public in the United States and around the world was shocked by the mass suicide of members of the "Heaven's Gate" sect, who believed that a spaceship was hiding in the tail of Hale-Bopp, approaching the earth, on which they were to "plunge." To this end, 39 people gathered at the Santa Fe ranch (California) took a drug from the group of barbiturates, which, to be sure, washed down with vodka.
In October 2007, 35 people from the Heavenly Jerusalem sect left for a shelter they dug in the ground near the village of Nikolskoye, Penza region, to survive the end of the world there, caused by the fall of the comet Armageddon to the earth, unknown to science. The leader of this sect, Peter Kuznetsov, remained on the surface. He was arrested on November 16, declared mentally ill and hospitalized. The leadership of the sect passed to 82-year-old Angelina Rukavishnikova. In February 2008, a fire broke out in the underground, and in March, the roof partially collapsed. Since March 29, the "recluses" began to take turns to come to the surface, the last of them left the "shelter" on May 16, 2008. During this time, 2 people died in the dungeon.
In total, 12 “ends of the world” were planned by various “prophets” for the period from 2008 to 2020. Draw your own conclusions.
We will safely survive the next “end of the world” in 2021 - the inversion of the Earth's magnetic poles is “assigned” to this date. And there the end of the world according to Newton is not far off - in 2060. Those of us who live will have some fun. In 2061, Halley's comet will also arrive again, adding frenzy. And in 2080, our children and grandchildren will once again be convinced that Nostradamus is a worthless prophet: they will never wait for the "global flood" predicted by him: "Most of the land will go under water, on the rest of the people will die of thirst."
I did not say that
I must say that attributing false predictions to deceased celebrities, or distorting quotes, is a very common practice.
Most often, the prophecies of Nostradamus are faked, since, despite an extremely insignificant percentage of guesses, the authority of this astrologer remains high. Numerous forecasts are still being written in his name to this day. The first forgeries of "Centuries" appeared in France in 1649 - the enemies of Cardinal Mazarin "predicted" his fall:
The Sicilian Nizaram (who will
In high esteem), but then he gets bogged down
In the quagmire of the civil war …
Gaul will be disturbed one night.
Great Croesus horoscope predicts
By the position of Saturn that his power will be banished."
"Nizaram" here is an anagram of the name "Mazarin".
They do not disdain to counterfeit the texts of Nostradamus even today. Here is one example of such falsifications:
“Thunder will strike in God's city, and two brothers will be torn apart by chaos, While the fortress will endure
the great leader will surrender, The third big war will begin
when the big city lights up."
Guess what this is about? If not, here's another one for you:
On the 11th day of the 9th month
two metal birds collide
with two tall statues
In a new city
And soon after that the end of the world will come."
Well, September 11 and in the "New City" York …
The first pseudo-quatrain was written as a joke by Canadian student Neil Marshall and featured in his Critique of Nostradamus. The author of the second wished to remain anonymous, but it is known for sure that this verse is not in any of the collections of real quatrains of Nostradamus.
Nostradamus is not the only "victim". Another example of this kind is Paracelsus, to whom many divinations are also attributed. Here are some of them, which allegedly refer to Russia:
“A new huge state will appear on the big continent. It will occupy almost half of the Earth. This state will exist for a century and it will happen in 400 years”.
“Muscovy will rise above all states. Not with her hand, but with her soul, she will save the world."
“In Muscovy, which no one ever thought of as a country in which something great could happen, great prosperity will shine over the humiliated and rejected. They will conquer the sun."
“There is one people that Herodotus calls Hyperboreans. The current name of this people is Muscovy. Their terrible decline, which will last for many centuries, cannot be trusted. Hyperboreans are experiencing both strong decline and great prosperity."
"In that very country of Hyperboreans, which no one ever thought of as a country in which something great could happen, the Great Cross, the Divine light from the mountain of the country of Hyperboreans, will shine over the humiliated and rejected, and all the inhabitants of the earth will see it."
"They will have three falls and three elevations."
Everything is just great, isn't it? The only problem is that these prophecies are contained in the book "Oracles", which is not mentioned anywhere in the list of works of this doctor and scientist. She suddenly appeared out of nowhere in the XX century, apparently, then it was written.
In the West, Lenin is often ascribed to the words that actually became Goebbels' calling card:
"A lie told often enough becomes the truth."
But Goebbels only slightly edited this phrase: the original source is the novel "The Crown of Life" written in 1869 by the little-known English writer Isa Blagden:
"If a lie is printed often enough, it becomes quasi-truth, and if such a truth is repeated often enough, it becomes a symbol of faith, a dogma, and people will die for it."
And in our country, Lenin is credited with a biting phrase: "Every cook is capable of running the state." Meanwhile, in the original, it reads as follows:
“We are not utopians. We know that any laborer and any cook are not able to immediately take over the government."
(The article "Will the Bolsheviks Retain State Power?"
Now is the time to return to the advice of potential prophets and soothsayers. In the previous article, we have already given four valuable recommendations, the turn for the fifth.
Life is bad without a sucker
Fifth rule: Diviners should avoid associating with skeptics. The fact is that in the process of divination or fortune-telling, a kind of programming or self-programming occurs, which can have both a positive and a negative impact on the fate of a person. Predictors act (often against their will) on the subconscious of the person who confides in them. As a result, an overly gullible client begins to adjust his fate to the received prophecy. A good prognosis can push a person to take action. Failures are forgotten, but success is remembered for a long time. On the other hand, an unfavorable forecast can force you to abandon the implementation of the plans, or to carry them out not vigorously enough, with the expectation of inevitable collapse and failure, even if the chances of success are very high.
So, during the war with the Persians, the Spartans received the following prophecy: either their king will die in the battle, or the state. They were sane and pragmatic people, and therefore, after consulting, they came to a very logical conclusion that finding a new king to replace the murdered was not a problem at all. And against the huge Persian army, they sent King Leonidas to Thermopylae, at the head of three hundred hoplites and a thousand perieks.
The position at Thermopylae was simply magnificent (there was no open battle, contrary to popular belief - the Greeks built a wall in the narrowest place where only one cart could pass), and if Sparta sent all its troops to it, the military campaign of the Persians, perhaps, that year ended before it could start properly. And a roundabout maneuver along some kind of goat path causes a condescending smile among military specialists: blocking this mountain path was even easier than blocking the passage itself. But Leonidas was required not to win, but to die in battle. He coped with the task perfectly. At the decisive moment, he even sent off several thousand allies (according to various estimates, their number ranged from 3,500 to 7,000 people!), Who could prevent him from doing so. And only when the Persians bypassed them, the Spartans lined up in a phalanx and entered into an open battle, in which all but one died (this is described in the article This is Sparta! Part II (Ryzhov V. A.)).
And here is how the astrologers "helped" the Khorezmshah Ala ad-Din Muhammad II.
Rashid ad-Din reports that, having learned about the movement of the Mongols to Khorezm, he, extremely worried, turned to astrologers, who told him that the arrangement of the stars was extremely unfortunate for him, and, “until the ill-fated stars passed, from with caution, one should not embark on any business directed against enemies."
At the disposal of the Khorezmshah was an army three times superior to the Mongolian army in number, his son, Jelal ad-Din, as subsequent events showed, was a brilliant commander, perhaps the only one in the whole world capable of fighting on equal terms with Chinggis and any of his four "Dogs". But Mohammed, after receiving such a forecast, was completely discouraged. Rashid ad-Din says:
"In Samarkand … he passed over the moat and said:" If every soldier from the army that will oppose us throws his whip here, then the moat will be filled at once!"
The subjects and the army were disheartened by these words of the Sultan."
Further - even more "fun":
"The Sultan set off on the road to Nakhsheb, and wherever he came, he said:" Get out yourself, because resistance to the Mongol army is impossible."
Jelal ad-Din, who begged to entrust him with the army, promising to destroy the Mongol army in an open battle (the overwhelming majority of chroniclers are sure that this was quite possible), Muhammad accused him of childishness.
Khorezm fell, and the main reason for the defeat of this rich and powerful state was the ridiculous and cowardly behavior of the Shah.
And Tamerlane demonstrates a completely different model of behavior in a similar situation. Before the Battle of Delhi, astrologers informed him of the unfavorable arrangement of the stars. Timur shrugged his shoulders and said with contempt:
“What an importance - the coincidence of the planets! I will not postpone the fulfillment of what I have taken the necessary measures to do for the world.”
He did not change anything in his plans, sent troops into battle and won the battle.
And sometimes a superstitious ruler has a wise adviser who can turn any not very good omen into auspicious one. Genghis Khan had the talented Khitan Elui Chu-tsai as such. In the Chinese source "Yuan shi" ("History of the Yuan (dynasty)") it is reported that in the summer of 1219, before the campaign against Khorezm, on the day of "sprinkling the banner", heavy snow suddenly fell and snowdrifts appeared. Genghis Khan took this abnormal snowfall as a bad sign, but Elui calmed him down, declaring with the cleverest air:
"The breath of Xuan-ming (deity of winter) at the height of summer is an omen of victory over the enemy."
Until now, the strange decision of Ivan IV to cede his throne in 1575 to the great-grandson of the Khan of the Great Horde Simeon Bekbulatovich remains a mystery.
They often try to explain this act by petty tyranny or some kind of sophisticated mockery of the boyars forced to serve the Tatar. But, firstly, outwardly, Ivan himself grovelled before the new "tsar" no less than others, "rode just like a boyar in shafts" (S. Soloviev), and turned to Simeon in full accordance with the protocol adopted at that time: "Ivanets Vasilyev with his children, with Yvanets and with Fedorets, beat them with their foreheads to the sovereign Grand Duke Semyon Bekbulatovich of All Russia."
Secondly, the service to a direct descendant of Genghis Khan could not be considered shameful in those days in Russia: the origin from Genghis was considered royal, from Rurik - princely. There are cases when natural Rurikovichs tried to ascribe to themselves the origin of the Tatar "princes".
There is a version that, having temporarily renounced the throne, Ivan IV tried to deceive fate: the court astrologer, allegedly, predicted the imminent death of the tsar. But, seeing that the Tatar was not going to die, he regained the crown by appointing Simeon the Grand Duke of Tver.
Strong-minded people do not turn to interpreters - they themselves will come up with the necessary explanation for any "sign of fate."
Gaius Julius Caesar fell during one of the campaigns, getting off the ship. He did not wait for everyone around him to whine about a bad omen, and loudly, so that everyone could hear, shouted: "You are in my hands, Africa!"
Just a delightful answer Caesar received from a priest who performed a cleansing sacrifice on the eve of the Battle of Pharsal. When asked if he noticed signs of a successful outcome of the battle, the priest replied:
“You can answer this question better than me. The gods are announcing a great change, therefore, if you think that the present state of affairs is favorable for you, then expect failure, if it is unfavorable, expect success."
Amazing and quite unexpected sanity, isn't it?
And when the haruspex told Caesar about an unlucky sign - supposedly the animal he had slaughtered did not have a heart, our hero replied:
"Everything will be fine if I wish it."
Here is another example from Roman history: the court astrologer of Tiberius predicted that Caligula would rather ride horses across the Bay of Bay (5 km long) than become emperor. Having come to power, Caligula, in spite of this astrologer, ordered the construction of a bridge across the bay: large ships were anchored in two rows, and earthen cover was poured on top. True, due to the lack of cargo ships, problems arose with the delivery of bread to Rome, but Caligula put the arrogant astrologer to shame twice: he became the ruler of Rome, and rode through the strait indicated by him on horseback.
Paradoxical as it may seem, it should be admitted that many events in world history really might not have happened if they had not been predicted.
Here, for example, how they literally pushed Titus Flavius Vespasian to power.
When Vespasian performed the duties of aedile, Caligula, angry at the neglect of timely cleaning of the streets, ordered him to put dirt in his bosom of the senatorial toga. And what do you think? Someone explained to Vespasian that this mud is a symbol of the Roman land, which, over time, will all be in his bosom: the whole state will fall under his protection and patronage.
One of the reasons for the First Jewish War, Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, calls the prophecy spread throughout the country that the World is destined to be ruled by a native of Judea. It turned out that all but one of the Jews misunderstood the prophecy. Priest Joseph ben Matityahu, one of the two survivors of the Yotopata fortress (the rest of its defenders, in order not to be captured, on his advice, killed each other), explained to the commander who seized the fortress that it was he, Vespasian, who would be this person who came out of Jews to become Roman emperor. And the quick-witted Joseph eventually became a Roman citizen, a wealthy landowner and the author of several historical works.
However, skeptics and people with a strong will do not follow the "instructions" of a soothsayer or fortune-teller, severely spoiling statistics and scaring away clients. But these are always in the minority. If the fortuneteller's attitude is sometimes fulfilled even by people with great inclinations, then what can we say about an ordinary person?
Imagine that a boy was told at birth that he would become famous on the battlefield. And parents from an early age tell him about it at every convenient and inconvenient occasion. Teaching him at the same time various useful things in military affairs. Most likely, over time, he himself will believe in all this. And when he grows up, he will go to the battlefield - to be glorified, as prescribed. Most likely, he will die, or end his life as a disabled beggar. But, if something works out, he will certainly tell the descendants about a successful prediction. What if he was predicted that he would glorify the local university? It is very likely that his life would have gone differently.
But it's better not to go to fortune-tellers, astrologers and "psychics" in general: why allow yourself to be manipulated by some charlatans and swindlers?
Fatum of Julius Caesar
A little more about Caesar. The title of king who destroyed him was given to him because of the prediction contained in the Sibylline books. According to this prophecy, the victory over Parthia (in a campaign against which Caesar was going) can only be won by the king. And therefore the Senate endowed Caesar with this title, but with a proviso: he was appointed king only in relation to the provinces and allied states. In Rome and on the territory of Italy, Caesar, as before, remained emperor (an honorary title, not a position) and dictator (temporary office). But some then had serious suspicions that for Caesar this was only the first step towards "real" royal power: they were afraid that after the victory, he, using his increased popularity, would proclaim himself the king of Rome. And therefore a conspiracy was organized against Caesar. The famous "Beware of the March Ids" addressed to him was still not a prediction, but a warning of an informed person. Everything else - an incomprehensible roar at night, a flashing sky, birds falling on the Forum, and other delirium, such a sane person like Caesar, of course, should have treated with contempt. And hardly anyone in Rome before the assassination of Caesar associated these events with his name. Then they remembered - after all, the gods could not have warned them about the death of such a person! Or maybe they came up with it - to enhance the dramatic effect and "catchphrase".
In reality, Caesar knew that his enemies were preparing an attempt on his life (not from soothsayers, but from more serious people), but refused bodyguards, told his friends:
"It is better to die once than to constantly expect death."
And when asked what kind of death he considers the best, Caesar replied: "Sudden."
Our story is not over yet. In the following articles, we will talk about the methods of fortune-telling, “prophetic” dreams, available to everyone, continue the story about all kinds of soothsayers and try to find out how you can use their talents for the benefit of the Motherland and society.
