Cassandra's Clique: Seers and Seeresses

Cassandra's Clique: Seers and Seeresses

These kids spend all their time at lunch with tarot cards, crystal balls, fortune cookies, and, most importantly, astrology books. If you want to get a hint about what's on the horizon for your life, these are the people to ask. But you'd better think twice before you start looking for answers. The truth is, you might not like what you hear. (Of course, maybe it's safe to ask Cassandra. No matter what she says, you won't believe her.)

Tiresias

This blind prophet of Thebes could see into the future like nobody's business. His main method of divination was through augury, the art of predicting the future through the flight patterns and songs of birds. He also could divine the future from the smoke of burnt offerings and even received visions straight from the gods. This prophet of prophets shows up in tons of ancient Greek tragedies and is most famous for his role in the Oedipus plays.

Oracle of Delphi/Apollo

The Oracle of Delphi was the place to go in ancient Greece if you wanted to get a little peek into your future. Usually, one young girl acted as the prophetess. Her duties included hanging out in a temple all day, inhaling volcanic fumes that drifted up through the earth, and having crazy trippy trances in which people believed she could catch glimpses of the future. The Oracle was a temple of Apollo, the god of prophecy who was said to be the guy sending the visions. It's said that Apollo claimed the Oracle—which used to belong to Gaia, the Earth—after killing Python, Gaia's son, who also happened to be a giant snake. Oh, Greek mythology.

Chiron

This gentle centaur is a killer prophet and can tell the future from the movement of the stars. He also happens to be married to the nymph Chariclo, Tiresias' mom. Besides being an awesome fortuneteller, Chiron is also a famous teacher of the stars (the famous human kind, not the glowing things in the sky). Achilles, Jason, Ajax and many other legendary heroes all call this half man/half horse "teach."

Mamitu

Mamitu is a Mesopotamian goddess who lives in the Underworld and knows everyone's fate. Of course, she's also the one who decides everyone's fate, so maybe her prophesying ability isn't quite as impressive as it sounds.