In this article, you will encounter two women known for predicting the future , Mother Shipton and Maria Taigi. One soothsayer would be connected to a prophecy involving one of the most devastating disasters in London’s history, while the other saw a world shrouded in darkness for three days straight.
Mother Shipton (1488 to 1561)
Better known as Mother Shipton, Ursula Southeil (or Soothtell), earned a reputation as an English soothsayer or prophetess. While she made a great deal of prophecies, her visions were not published until 1641 , 80 years after she had died. Her main focus on predictions had a regional flair and in her first publication, only two prophetic verses were included , none of which included the foretelling of the end of the world. Another edition of her published prophecies dating back to 1684 offered more insight into the life of Mother Shipton. She was born in a cave located in Knaresborough, Yorkshire. This site is now known as Mother Shipton’s Cave. It is said that she was hideous to look at and had a knack for telling fortunes and making predictions.
According to the diaries of Samuel Pepys (an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament), when the Great Fire that tore through the medieval City of London and inside the old Roman City Wall took place, people believed that Mother Shipton had accurately predicted the event. As for the end of the world, Shipton stated that by the end, London would cease to exist. She predicted “motor vehicles, electronic communications, tunnels through the mountains, underwater transportation, men shall fly, iron ships cruise the oceans, gold would be found in a land not then known.” She also believed that the world would come to an end in 1991.
Maria Taigi (1769 to 1837)
When Anna Maria Gesualda Antonia Taigi beame beautified by Pope Benedict XV in 1920, the Italian woman had spent many years tending to the sick (often called the ‘Icurables’) and sharing what little she owned with others. Many times that she spend in her chapel praying, she would experience ecstasies and frequent visions that often surrounded foreseeing the future. After her passing, her name was quickly venerated in Rome , the place where she died.
Taigi predicted that two punishments (or scourges) would take place in the future , with one that would occur on earth in the form of wars, revolutions and an imbalance in social structure. The other would come from the universe. She predicted a period of darkness that would last for three days and nights straight. Nothing could be seen and during the time, disease would come to take over the world. Remaining indoors would be one of the only ways to save yourself, although a large percentage of the world population would die anyways. The only thing that would produce light during this time is candles.
