Baba Vanga

Infobox Person
name = Vanga


image_size = 200px
caption = Clairvoyant and healer
birth_date = birth date|1911|1|31|df=y
birth_place = Strumica, nowadays in Republic of Macedonia
death_date = death date and age|1996|8|11|1911|1|31|df=y
death_place = Petrich, Bulgaria
occupation =
spouse = Dimitar Gushterov,
married 10 May 1942
quotation = "Don't hate each other. Love each other. 'Cause all of you are my children."

Vanga ( _bg. Ванга) (3 October 1911 – 11 August 1996), born Vangelia Pandeva Dimitrova ( _bg. Вангелия Пандева Димитрова), after marriage Vangelia Gushterova ( _bg. Вангелия Гущерова) was a Bulgarian alleged clairvoyant who spent most of her life in the Rupite area in the Kozhuh mountains, Bulgaria. She convinced many followers that she possessed paranormal abilities.

Biography

Vanga was born in Strumica (today in Republic of Macedonia), and after 1942 lived in Petrich (Bulgaria). Her birth was a premature one and the baby had been suffering from some health complications. In accordance with local tradition, the baby was not given a name until it was likely to survive. After the baby's first cry-out, a midwife went out in the street and asked a stranger for a name. The stranger proposed "Andromaha", but it was not accepted for being "too Greek", so the second stranger's proposal, "Vangelia" ( _el. Βαγγελία, short for _el. Ευαγγελία, "herald of the blessed word"), was accepted — also a Greek name, but popular in the region.

In her childhood, Vangelia was an ordinary girl. Her father was conscripted into the Bulgarian Army during World War I, and her mother died when Vanga was quite young. The girl depended on the neighbors for a long time. Vanga was smart, with blue eyes and blond hair. Her inclinations started to show up when she herself thought out games and loved playing "healing" – she prescribed some herbs to her friends, who pretended to be ill. Her father, being a widower, eventually married a good woman, thus providing a stepmother to his daughter.

A turning point in the biography of Vanga is a story about a storm which lifted Vanga up and threw her in the field (this claim has not been verified with meteorological records or other accounts from that time). She was found after a long search. She was very frightened, and her eyes were covered with sand and dust, so she couldn't open them because of the pain. No healing gave results. There was money only for partial operation, ["The truth about Vanga", p. 42] so her eyesight was failing.

In 1925 Vanga was brought to a Blind House in the city of Zemun (Serbia), where she spent three years, and was taught to read Braille, play the piano, as well as do knitting, cooking, and cleaning. ["The truth about Vanga", pp. 43-44] After the death of her stepmother she had to go back home, in order to take care of her little siblings. Her family was very poor, and she had to work all day.

In 1939 Vanga caught pleurisy, although she had been quite healthy in the previous years. The doctor's opinion was that she would soon die but she recovered quickly.

During World War II Vanga attracted more believers — a number of people visiting her, hoping to get a hint about whether their relatives are alive, or seeking for the place where they died. On 8 April 1942 the Bulgarian king Boris III visited her.

On 10 May 1942 Vanga married Dimitar Gushterov, a man from a village near Petrich, who had come asking for the killers of his brother, but had to promise her not to seek revenge. Shortly before marriage, Dimitar and Vanga moved to Petrich, where she soon became well-known. Dimitar was later conscripted and had to spend some time in Greece. He got another illness in 1947, fell into alcoholism, and eventually died on 1 April 1962. ["The truth about Vanga", pp. 61-65, 69-70, 80-81]

Vanga died on 11 August 1996. Her funeral attracted large crowds, including many dignitaries.

Fulfilling Vanga's last will and testament, her Petrich house was turned into a museum, which opened its doors on 5 May, 2008. [ [http://www.sofiaecho.com/article/prophetess-baba-vanga-s-petrich-house-becomes-museum/id_29132/catid_70 Prophetess Baba Vanga's Petrich house becomes museum] , The Sofia Echo, May 6 2008]

Philosophy and Predictions

Vanga was illiterate or semi-literate and she did not write herself any books. Her speech was difficult to distinguish and she spoke a heavy dialect (recent TV recordings used subtitles for the Bulgarian audience). What she said or allegedly said has been captured by staff members. Later numerous esoteric books on Vanga's life and predictions were written.

Vanga claimed that her alleged extraordinary abilities had something to do with the presence of invisible creatures, but she couldn't clearly explain their origin. She was saying, that those creatures were giving her information about people, which she could not transmit to them, because, distance and time didn't matter. According to Vanga, the life of everyone standing in front of her, was like a film to her, from birth till death. But changing "what was written on the generation" was beyond her power.

Apart from prophesying, Vanga was believed to be a healer, but only through herbal medicines. According to her, people had to heal themselves only with herbs from the country they live in. She prescribed washing with an infusion of herbs and spices, claiming some beneficial effect on the skin. Vanga did not oppose mainstream medicine, although she thought that taking too much medicines is bad, because "they close the doors, through which nature restores the balance in the body with herbs".Fact|date=February 2007

Vanga attempted prophesies of newborn or unborn children. She claimed that she was "seeing" and "talking" to people, who had died hundreds of years ago. Vanga talked about the future, although she did not like to. In her words, in 200 years man will make contact with brothers in mind from other worlds.Fact|date=February 2007 She said that many aliens have been living on the earth for years. They came from the planet, which in their language is called "Vamfim" , and is the third planet from the Earth.Fact|date=February 2007

Followers of Vanga believe that she knew the precise date of her own death, and shortly before that she had said that a 10-year-old blind girl living in France was to inherit her gift, and that people would soon hear about her.

Controversy

Vanga was widely known to be close to the government of Todor Zhivkov and, on several occasions, she appeared on public TV with him and other high officials of the Communist Party. It has been alleged that Vanga used data gathered by the secret services to win the trust of her visitors.

Skeptics accuse her of speaking too ambiguouslyFact|date=February 2007 — any cryptic thought can apply to a future historical event, sooner or later.

Vanga is known to have been rude to people whom she considered bad and sinful. The guilty person's deeds were usually exposed by her in detail before she sent him or her away. Fact|date=February 2007

Believers think that sometimes Vanga intentionally hides information, especially bad news, from people whom it concerns. This is attributed to her philantropy, and is confirmed by her relatives to have caused her discomfort after the visitor goes out. Fact|date=February 2007 Vanga said that she is not allowed to reveal certain facts to anybody. Fact|date=February 2007

Predictions

2008 - Assassination attempts on 4 heads of state. Conflict in India. This would be one of the reasons of World War III.

2010 - The start of World War III. War would begin in November 2010 and end in October 2014. It would begin as usual, then nuclear and chemical weapons would be used.

2011 - As a result of the nuclear fallout the northern hemisphere would be left without any animals or vegetation. Then Muslims would wage war against Europeans with chemical weapons.

2014 - Most people would suffer skin cancer and other skin diseases (as a consequence of chemical warfare).

2016 - Europe would be almost empty.

2018 - New China becomes a world power. Developing countries in turn operated from exploiters.

2023 - A little bit of change in the Earth’s orbit.

2025 - Europe still little settled.

2028 - Creating a new energy source (probably a controlled thermonuclear reaction). Hunger is gradually being overcome. Launched a manned spacecraft to Venus.

2033 - The polar ice are melting. Greater levels of the oceans.

2043 - The world economy is thriving. In Europe, Muslims rule.

2046 - any bodies (organs) can be manufactured (cloning?). Replacing the bodies is becoming one of the best methods of treatment.

2066 - During the attack on the Muslim Rome, the United States used a new kind of weapon - the climate. The sharp cooling (instant freezing).

2076 - Classless Society (communism).

2084 - The restoration of nature.

2088 - A new disease - aging for a few seconds!

2097 - The rapid aging defeated.

2100 - Artificial sun illuminates the dark side of the Earth.

2111 - People become living robots.

2123 - The war between small nations. Big nations do not intervene.

2125 - Hungary will receive signals from space.

2130 - Colony under water (with the help of sympathetic councils).

2164 - Animals turn half-human.

2167 - A new religion.

2170 - Major drought.

2183 - A colony on Mars becomes a nuclear power, and demands independence from the Earth (like when - the United States from England).

2187 - Will stop 2 large eruption of volcanoes.

2195 - Sea Colony fully developed, abundant energy and food.

2196 - Complete mixing of Asians and Europeans.

2201 - At the Sun slowing thermonuclear processes. Temperature drops.

2221 - In the search for extraterrestrial life, humanity comes into contact with what - something terrible.

2256 - Spacecraft forgotten to Earth terrible new disease.

2262 - Planets gradually changing planetary orbit. Mars is threatened by comets.

2271 - Restart physical constants are changed. (Laws of physics changed?)

2273 - Mixing yellow, white and black races. New race.

2279 - Power from nothing (probably from a vacuum or a black hole).

2288 - Travel back in time (Time Travel invented?). New contacts with aliens.

2291 - The sun cools. Attempts were being made to light it again.

2296 - Powerful eruption on the Sun. Changing the force of gravity. Beginning to fall old space stations and satellites.

2299 - In France, guerrilla movement against Islam.

2302 - New important laws and secrets of the universe revealed.

2304 - Secrets of the Moon revealed.

2341 - Something terrible is approaching Earth from space.

2354 - An accident in one of the artificial Sun leads to drought.

2371 - The great famine.

2378 - A new fast-growing race. Voyager returns to Earth.

2480 - 2 artificial Suns collide. Land in the twilight.

3005 -The war on Mars. Violated the trajectory of the planet.

3010 - Comet hits Moon. Around the Earth - ring/zone of the stones and dust.

3797 - By this time on Earth killed all life, but mankind will be able to lay the foundations for a new life in another stellar system.

3803 - A new planet is populated by little. Fewer contacts between people. Climate new planet affects the organisms of people - they mutate.

3805 - The war between humans for resources. More than half of people dying out.

3815 - The war is over.

3854 - The development of civilization virtually stops. People live flocks as beasts.

3871 - New prophet tells people about moral values, religion.

3874 - New prophet receives support from all segments of the population. Organized a new church.

3878 - along with the Church to re-train new people forgotten sciences.

4302 - New cities are growing in the world. New Church encourages the development of new technology and science.

4302 - The development of science. Scientists discovered in the overall impact of all diseases in organism behavior.

4304 - Found a way to win any disease.

4308 - Due to mutation people at last beginning to use their brains more than 34%. Completely lost the notion of evil and hatred.

4509 - Getting to Know God. The man has finally been reached such a level of development that can communicate with God.

4599 - People achieve immortality.

4674 - The development of civilization has reached its peak. The number of people living on different planets is about 340 billion. Assimilation begins with aliens.

5076 - A boundary universe. With it, no one knows.

5078 - The decision to leave the boundaries of the universe. While about 40 percent of the population is against it.

5079 - End of the World.

Notes

Sources

* Stephen Kinzer: " [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CEEDB1E39F936A35757C0A963958260 Rupite Journal; For a Revered Mystic, a Shrine Now of Her Own] " in The New York Times, April 5, 1995
* [http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/SEEFA/FolkloricaVIII1.pdf "FOLKLORICA" Journal of the Slavic and East European Folklore Association Volume VIII, Number 1, Spring 2003]
* " [http://www.osa.ceu.hu/files/holdings/300/8/3/text/8-11-33.shtml Ideological Drive Against Paraperception] " Radio Free Europe Research, March 24, 1983, in "Open Society Archives"
* (in Russian) [http://www.peoples.ru/state/divinators/vanga/ An article by Natalia Baltzun] , translated by Kristina Hristova (Bulgaria)

* (in Russian) [http://www.skeptik.net/extras/gorny1.htm Vanga's Prophecies: Product of the Bulgarian Secret Services]

* cite book
last = Stoyanova
first = Krasimira
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = The truth about Vanga
publisher = Balgarski Pisatel
date= 1996
location = Sofia
url =
doi =
id = ISBN 954-443-170-5 :: (cite book
last = Стоянова
first = Красимира
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Истината за Ванга
publisher = Български Писател
date= 1996
location = София
url =
doi =
id = ISBN 954-443-170-5 )

* [http://www.mendhak.com/paranormal/prophecy/show.php?id=13 Biography and prophecies]

* [http://www.sofiaecho.com/article/notes-from-history-baba-vanga/id_13025/catid_64 NOTES FROM HISTORY: Baba Vanga] , The_Sofia_Echo, December 19 2005

* [http://russianfun.net/interesting-galleries/vanga-predictions-for-this-world/] Vanga predictions for this world RussianFun.net