The Mother Shipton Prophecy is one of the more ridiculous (and, therefore, constantly utilized) theories supposedly outlining the 2012 apocalypse. The basic premise revolves a woman named Ursula Southeil (a.k.a Mother Shipton) and her famous, prophetic visions. Her prophecies were published in 1641 (80 years after her recorded death) and apparently adequately predicted the death of Henry VIII, the Great Fire of London, The advent of the printing press, The defeat of the Spanish Armada, and - to top it all off - World Wars I and II.
The verse in her prophecy that lead people to believe in a possible prediction of the 2012 apocalypse reads thusly:
When pictures seem alive with movements free
when boats like fishes swim beneath the sea
when men like birds shall scour the sky
then half the world
deep drenched in blood
shall die.
It is helpful to note that nowhere in the prophecy is there a specific reference to 2012. Conspiracy theorists make the case that while the 2012 apocalypse is not explicitly referenced, because all the other prophecies fit together so well, it's the only logical explanation. It would be fair to say that does not function as a particularly adequate rebuttal.
It is also entirely possible that Mother Shipton, great prophetess of the sixteenth century, might not have existed in the first place. Richard Head (that is, indeed, his real name), the man who composed her biography, admitted that he wove a narrative from some stories he'd heard and marketed them as The Life and Times of Mother Shipton.
So, uh, mystery solved.
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ReplyDeleteRather poetic prophesy, sounds like something out of a fantasy novel. Anyway, considering the fact that the first submarines were invented during the American Civil War, the first plane in 1903, and that both were widely used during WWI (1914-1918), I'd say she's about a century late.
ReplyDeleteMother Shipton has always been one of the more ridiculous 2012 theories out there, but enjoyable none the less. Her "prophesies" do sound like something out of a fiction novel, which is probably why people gravitate toward them.
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