How we search for meaning in our futures, as revealed by the divine, occult or supernatural, from ancient prophets to the end of days

What will happen to us next? From the earliest beginnings of human civilization, people have searched for signs, patterns and clues to address the last unanswerable question. Looking into the future has obsessed human beings since written records began. As soon as communities could conceive of higher powers, they tried to look into the future. Prophets and priests have delivered divine messages. Shamans and seers have channelled spirits and interpreted visions, portents, revelations and omens.

This unique and richly illustrated volume reveals the long history of the future in every human society – from Egyptian oracles, Roman augurs and Aztec omens, to Japanese divination and the active magic of Norse seers. It traces the parallels in different traditions and cultures, exploring the signs and images found in antique documents, rare books, imaginative projections and divinatory paraphernalia.

The nine chapters explore extraordinary oracles from ancient Greece and western Africa, to Mesopotamia and the mountains of Tibet; we discover omens, portents and auspicious signs in indigenous societies in Asia; meet the Zoroastrian priests of Iran and astrologers of China; share dreams and visions from Australia to North America; and finally reckon with the many predictions of the end of the world, from ancient days to our present moment.