The underground passageway led deep into the darkness. It had begun near a collection

of small rooms, almost like dormitories, and then stretched out for over 50 feet into

the earth. At the opposite end, a labyrinth awaited those who were brave enough to enter it.

And beyond that, the cauldron.

Don't think of those little black plastic things that kids carry with them on Halloween

night. No, this cauldron was made of heavy bronze, and it was enormous, large enough to

fit a grown adult in, in fact. And when it was discovered in 1958 at the foot of a mountain

in Western Greece, archaeologists Sotirio Stacarras knew what he was looking for. It was a temple

known in the ancient times as the halls of Hades and Dread Persephone, a name that comes

to us from Homer's Odyssey, where the adventurer Odysseus stopped to ask the prophet how to

get home. And this cauldron was part of the temple's offerings, an enormous vessel that

would contain water or oil with a mirror smooth surface used to do one specific thing.

To peer into the future.

It might be an ancient idea, but the human desire to know the future has never faded away.

In fact, as our world becomes more and more complex, it might be fair to say that we

are more interested than ever before in what the future holds. Whether you're browsing

movie options or national bestseller lists, you're never too far from concepts like time travel

or prophecies. The future, more than anything else, is what our eyes seem to be set on.

So of course it makes sense that thousands of years of human history have led to the

development of systems and tools that make it possible. Rituals and practices that are

said to gift the user with a glimpse into the misty waters of the not yet, in hopes of

guiding them through the right now.

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