Astrology

Dismissed publicly, consulted privately — by bankers, generals, and presidents.

The oldest continuously practiced correspondence system: Babylonian omen texts by 2000 BC, horoscopic astrology codified in Hellenistic Egypt, transmitted through Islamic astronomy into every European court. Kings timed coronations by it; Reagan's White House schedule was set partly by astrologer Joan Quigley (documented in chief of staff Donald Regan's 1988 memoir). Controlled studies — most famously Shawn Carlson's 1985 double-blind test in Nature — find no predictive power. It persists as the folk ancestor of every 'hidden pattern governs events' claim on this sphere.