People have always been drawn to the idea of peering ahead, and the phrase 10 stories future perfectly captures the allure of crystal balls and enchanted mirrors. From the murky depths of alchemical tomes to the shining panes of ancient lighthouses, humanity has chased glimpses of what lies beyond the present. Below we travel through ten riveting tales that show how mirrors and crystal spheres have been used to forecast destiny.
10 Stories Future: A Journey Through Time‑Worn Reflections
10. The Ghost Mirror
Johann Georg Faust, the German alchemist whose legend sparked the famous Faust myth, penned a spell‑laden grimoire called the Hollenzwang. Within its pages he prescribed a chilling ritual for seeing the future in a mirror: on a Friday one must visit the market and purchase the very first mirror seen, regardless of cost. Haggling, he warned, would invite a demon to slip inside the glass.
When the new moon rises, the mirror’s owner is instructed to locate a fresh grave, dig a pit where the corpse’s face would have been, and bury the mirror face‑down atop the body. Nine weeks later the seer exhumes the mirror and, aloud, summons three spirits whose names shift depending on the advice sought. The book details the nature of successful visions: a beautiful spirit—male or female—appears and guides the medium across the world, revealing answers about past, present, and future.
This eerie procedure, steeped in folklore, illustrates how fear and fascination intertwine when mortals attempt to pry open the veil of time.
9. The Visions Of ‘Miss X’
Anthropologist Northcote W. Thomas, known for his studies of Nigerian tribes and Australian Aboriginal peoples, harbored a deep curiosity for psychic phenomena. In 1905 he released Crystal Gazing, a work that opened with the observation that discussions of crystal‑ball belief were a staple at social gatherings.
During a London soirée, Thomas and his companions attempted scrying with a crystal ball but saw nothing—except for a mysterious woman, “Miss X,” who reported a distinct design. Shortly thereafter a newly published book arrived, its cover bearing the exact design she described. Intrigued, Thomas began carrying the crystal ball everywhere, asking acquaintances what they perceived. One woman described a scene of Thomas in a living room with a white Persian cat, detailing furniture, drapes, and attire. Later, when Thomas visited a friend’s home, a white Persian cat indeed darted across the room, matching the vision.
These uncanny coincidences convinced Thomas to become a believer, and his book amassed a collection of similar accounts, cementing his reputation as a chronicler of the uncanny.
8. A Portal To The Underworld
In the 1200s, the enigmatic Friar Bacon applied an early scientific method to a practice that terrified his contemporaries. He gazed into a mirror, claiming he could converse with distant souls and summon the images of lost loved ones for those willing to look intently enough.
His peers, unsettled by his claims, blamed him for battlefield deaths, assuming he consorted with the Devil. Bacon’s reputation grew into legend, inspiring a 16th‑century play by Robert Greene that portrayed him as “The Emperor’s Magician,” a figure wielding formidable magical powers through what Greene termed the “glass prospective.”
While modern scholars suspect mental illness may explain his behavior, the medieval imagination cemented his status as a conduit to the underworld.
7. The Legend Of The Magical Tower
An Egyptian pharaoh, according to legend, stood within a towering structure equipped with a magical mirror that surveyed his entire realm. The mirror could reveal approaching enemies from over 50 kilometers away, allowing the king to marshal forces in time. It was even said to flash signals to civilians for evacuation and to ignite enemy ships by focusing sunlight.
The tale migrated across cultures, morphing into versions where the mirror became a golden orb granting visions of the future, complete with wizards and additional enchantments. Yet archaeological research shows the story likely originates from the famed Lighthouse of Alexandria, the seventh wonder of the ancient world. Its curved metal mirrors could indeed project sunlight far enough to set sails ablaze, a technology unheard of elsewhere at the time, giving the structure its almost mystical reputation.
This blend of fact and folklore illustrates how advanced engineering can be mythologized into magical narrative.
6. Demons In Hand
During the Middle Ages, as pagan rites waned and Christianity surged, some scrying practices were reshaped to fit a Christian framework. Bishop John of Salisbury documented priests who polished young boys’ fingernails, using the gleam as a reflective surface for divination, while others polished the bottom of a metal washbasin to peer into its mirror‑like sheen. John admitted he himself once underwent the ritual yet saw no prophetic images.
Another cleric, Robert Reynys, kept a “Commonplace Book” describing how he oil‑coated the nails of children aged seven to thirteen, placing them on his lap while they recited prayers invoking three angels to reveal truths about any temporal query. Reynys claimed success, reporting visions of angels and demons reflected in the children’s nails.
Physician Johannes Hartlieb added further detail, noting that “zaubermaisters” would seize boys and girls, polish their hands, and whisper spells while holding swords or crystal balls up to their faces, demanding they seek reflections of celestial beings. Colors signified moods—red for angry angels, black for furious ones—prompting priests to burn sage and make offerings until the visions turned white, a sign of favorable outcome.
5. The Queen’s Magician
In the 16th century, Dr. John Dee emerged as a polymath—mathematician, alchemist, astronomer—who also dabbled in “magic.” During Queen Mary I’s reign, England’s official religion turned Catholic, rendering magical practice illegal. Yet Mary’s sister, Elizabeth, consulted Dee for a horoscope. He foretold that three years later Mary would die and Elizabeth would ascend the throne. Mary, infuriated, imprisoned Dee.
True to his prophecy, Mary passed away three years on, and Elizabeth released Dee, appointing him as her advisor. She declared his work “white magic,” a divine gift, granting him freedom to pursue his experiments. Dee’s famed “scrying table” was adorned with symbols he claimed were angelic letters, and his crystal artifacts now reside in the British Museum.
Dee’s story illustrates how political tides can both suppress and elevate the mystical, turning a condemned sorcerer into a royal confidant.
4. The Magi
Early accounts of scrying trace back to Persia, where seers known as the Magi used reflective water to glimpse the future—a practice that gave rise to the very word “magic.” Persian poet Firdausi, in the 10th century, celebrated this art, writing of a cup that reflected seven chimes and foretold celestial events.
Across cultures, mirrors served as divinatory tools. An Etruscan mirror painting depicts a man making love to a woman while a naked observer watches, hinting at an impending threesome. Adjacent, a fully clothed woman peers into a smaller handheld mirror, her expression sorrowful. The scene bears only the names Mexio and Fasia, leaving scholars to speculate that the clothed figure may have witnessed her husband’s infidelity through the reflective surface.
These artistic testimonies underscore the universal human fascination with reflected truth, whether for love, betrayal, or destiny.
3. The High Count
Italian adventurer Count Alessandro di Cagliostro, later revealed as Giuseppe Balsamo, claimed mastery over crystal‑ball prophecy. In the late 1700s, he entertained European nobility, delivering predictions that allegedly proved accurate, such as foretelling a young woman’s imminent death and warning a prince of dire misfortune.
Cagliostro attributed his powers to an “Egyptian Rite” and confessed to using DMT to induce vivid visions, which he interpreted as messages from higher powers. Despite his fame, he eventually faced imprisonment for heresy, marking a dramatic fall from courtly favor.
His tale blends intrigue, chemistry, and the perilous line between accepted mysticism and condemned sorcery.
2. The Lady Speaks
William Lilly, a 17th‑century astrologer and political figure, recorded the story of Sarah Skelhorn, a woman of noble birth who employed a crystal ball to aid a friend. While staying with Mrs. Stockman on the Isle of Purbeck, Sarah was asked whether her mother, traveling to London, was still at home. Consulting the crystal sphere, she claimed angels showed her mother retrieving a red coat from a trunk.
The following day, Sarah’s mother indeed opened a trunk and produced a brand‑new red coat—information Sarah could not have known. Impressed, Lilly labeled Sarah a “Speculatrix,” noting her continued predictions for physicians and other elite clientele. Though her visions were modest, they fascinated contemporaries, offering a glimpse of early “social media”—instant knowledge of a family’s mundane detail.
Sarah’s account demonstrates how personal prophecy could augment social standing in an era before telephones.
1. The Prophecies
Michel de Nostradame—better known as Nostradamus—served as a 16th‑century physician treating plague victims in Italy and France. Yet his enduring fame stems from his prophetic verses, composed after he adopted a scrying technique involving a brass‑tripod‑mounted bowl of water, into which he stared until visions unfolded.
Unlike many on this list, Nostradamus’s revelations were densely poetic, enabling later interpreters to align his quatrains with events such as the 9/11 attacks and World War II atrocities. One anecdote recounts Catherine de’ Medici, queen of France, summoning Nostradamus for a glimpse of future monarchs; he presented an enchanted mirror that allegedly displayed their faces.
His legacy persists, with scholars and enthusiasts alike debating the accuracy of his cryptic verses, cementing his status as the archetypal seer.