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Nostradamus – His Life and Prophecies

Nostradamus – His life and Prophecies © 2007 Copyright Allan Colston. All Rights Reserved

Part One

The Life of Nostradamus

Michel de Nostredame, or Nostradamus as he chose to be called in later life, was one of nine children. He was the eldest son, and had four younger brothers. He was born in Saint-Ré my-de-Provence in the south of France on December 14, 1503. Although his parents were Jewish, they converted to the Catholic faith before Michel was 9 years old. For the rest of his life Nostradamus continued to be a staunch and devoted Catholic. As a boy, Nostradamus showed early signs of the great intellectual ability he was to display in later years, along with an amazing memory. His education was directed by his grandfather Jean, who taught him the basics of Latin, Greek, Hebrew and Mathematics. He also learned what he later referred to as “Celestial Science”, which is more commonly known today as Astrology. As a young man, Nostradamus supported the Copernican theory that the world was round, and that it circled around the sun. This caused his parents some concern, especially as this was in conflict with the teaching of the Church. In fact about one hundred years later, Galileo was persecuted by the Catholic Inquisition for teaching precisely the same ideas. At the age of fifteen Nostradamus was sent to Avignon to continue his studies. But after little more than a year he was forced to leave Avignon due to an outbreak of the plague. For the next ten years he practiced as an Apothecary, and learned how to formulate and dispense various forms of medicine. In 1529, he was accepted at the University of Montpellier, where he studied for his Doctorate in Medicine. But when it was discovered that he had practiced as an Apothecary, a manual trade expressly forbidden to students of medicine, Nostradamus was expelled from the University. He then chose to return to the countryside in order to help victims of the bubonic plague that was sweeping across Europe at that time.



Plague was endemic in Southern France during the 16th century, and in particular, a very virulent strain known locally as “Le Charbon”, because of the large black pustules that appeared on the bodies of its victims. Although Nostradamus had many detractors throughout his lifetime, no one ever denied his courage in facing this deadly disease. He was also renowned for his humanity and kindness to the sick, and his generosity towards the poor. Nostradamus became well-known for his innovative medicine and treatment during outbreaks of the plague. In particular, he was famous for creating a “rose pill” which he dispensed to victims of this disease. He was also among the first to stress the importance of personal hygiene, and of the need for maintaining clean dressings. After nearly four years traveling from town to town treating victims of the plague, his success and renown, coupled with his unorthodox treatments, earned him enemies among the medical fraternity, especially since he adamantly refused to bleed his patients, which was the customary treatment at that time. But in 1531, his reputation as a physician and a scholar led to an invitation to travel to Agen and stay in the home of Jules-Cé sar Scaliger, who was one of the leading philosophers in Europe at the time. It was while he was living in Agen that Nostradamus met and married a young woman who was described as being “of high estate, very beautiful and admirable”. His wife, whose name is uncertain, bore him a son and a daughter. For Nostradamus, life at that time seemed complete. His practice was profitable, while his fame as an intellectual and as a scholar was spreading throughout France. But fate was to about to inflict on him a series of cruel blows in swift succession. First of all, he had a falling out with Scaliger, and this led to the permanent loss of his friendship and support. Then the plague returned to Agen with renewed severity, and despite all his medical knowledge and experience, Nostradamus was unable to save the lives of his wife and his two children, who had been stricken with this disease. The fact that he had been unsuccessful in saving the lives of his own family had a disastrous effect on his medical practice. Then his late wife’s family tried to sue him for the return of her dowry. As the final straw, he was



accused by the Church of heresy, as a result of a chance remark which he had made to a workman several years earlier. While watching a workman casting a bronze statue of the Virgin Mary, Nostradamus had casually mentioned to the man that he was making devils. This remark was reported to the authorities. Although he later claimed that he was merely commenting on the lack of aesthetic appeal of the statue, Nostradamus was ordered to face the Inquisitors in Toulouse. Nostradamus had no desire to stand trial for his beliefs, nor risk torture on the rack or death by fire at the stake, so he immediately set forth on his wanderings again, keeping well clear of the Church authorities for many years. By 1545 Nostradamus had settled in Marseille. But in November of that year the area experienced one of the worst floods on record. The plague redoubled in virulence, spread by the waters and the polluted corpses. Nostradamus worked almost single-handedly throughout this epidemic, curing many, and insisting on the need for fresh air and unpolluted water. Finally, in 1547, he moved to Salon-de-Provence. He found this to be such an agreeable town that he decided to settle there for the rest of his days. Shortly after his arrival he married a rich widow named Anne Ponsard Gemelle, who subsequently bore him six children, three girls and three boys. The house in which they lived can still be seen today off the Place de la Poissonnerie. It was about this time that Nostradamus was drawn to the study of occult practices, and he began researching numerous occult works, and from that time onward he began to spend more of his time on his academic studies, and less on the practice of medicine. He also developed a deep interest in the art of prophecy, and legends about his prophetic ability began to circulate from that time. It was reported that when Nostradamus was in Italy he had seen a young monk walking down the street towards him. He immediately knelt down in front of the monk and called him “Your Holiness”. In 1585, many years after Nostradamus’ death, this same monk became Pope Sextus V.



Nostradamus converted the upper room of his house in Salon into a study, and it was there (as he later revealed in his book of prophecies) that he spent most of his time, poring over his occult books. One of the major sources of inspiration was a book called “De Magisteriis Aegyptiorum” (Concerning the Mysteries of Egypt), which had been published in Lyons a few years earlier. It was in 1550 that Nostradamus first published an Almanac containing prophetic information. This Almanac was so well received that for many years it became an annual publication. He subsequently published more generalized predictions under the title of “Prognostications”. By 1555, Nostradamus completed the first part of his Book of Prophecies, with which his name has ever since been linked. This book contained references to events that he predicted would occur in the future, and that would culminate in the ending of the Piscean Age. Nostradamus used the word “century” to describe these prophecies. This term had nothing to do with time or the passing of the years. Instead, it was simply the term he gave to his collection of prophecies, because each “century” contained 100 verses. Each verse of prophecy, called a quatrain, consisted of four lines with alternate rhymes. So the word at the end of line one rhymed with the word at the end of line three, and the word at the end of line two rhymed with that at the end of line four. Nostradamus had intended to write twelve books of prophecy, each with 100 verses. However, part of the seventh century is incomplete as it only contains 42 verses. The remaining 58 verses, if indeed they were ever written, have not survived. The 11th and 12th centuries are likewise incomplete, as Nostradamus died before he could compose more than a few verses in each. These prophetic verses were first published, in an incomplete form, in 1555, under the title “Les Propheties” (The Prophecies). Their impact on French society was sensational. His prophecies became the main topic of debate at the French Court, and his fame quickly spread throughout Europe.



One of the people who came to know about these prophecies was Catherine de Mé dicis, the queen consort of King Henri II of France. She sent for Nostradamus in 1556, in order to discuss the impact of his prophecies on the French throne and the future of her seven sons. This was a matter that called for delicate diplomacy on Nostradamus’ part, as he had already predicted their tragic fates in his book of Centuries. Soon afterwards, Nostradamus was warned that the Justices of Paris were enquiring about his magic practices. He therefore quickly returned to Salon where he was welcomed home as a man of importance. From this time forward, Nostradamus spent most of his time drawing up horoscopes for distinguished visitors, and continuing work on his prophecies. Nostradamus had long suffered from arthritis and gout, and this turned in due course to “dropsy”, a condition that led to swelling of soft tissue due to the accumulation of excess water. Realizing that his condition was beyond medical care, he drew up his will on June 17, 1566. In his will, he made provision for the disposal of his estate, which included the sum of 3,444 crowns (About $300,000 US), which was a considerable fortune for the time. On July 1st, realizing that his end was near, Nostradamus sent for the local priest to deliver the last rites. When his secretary Jean de Chavigny retired for the night, Nostradamus is alleged to have said to him: “You will not find me alive at sunrise”. This proved to be the case, for his body was found on the following morning, exactly as he had predicted, lying on the floor next to his bed. The date was July 2, 1566. He was 62. Nostradamus was buried in an upright position in one of the walls of the Church of the Cordeliers in Salon, where his wife Anne erected a large marble plaque in his memory. However, this was not to be his final resting place, for his grave was later opened by superstitious soldiers - something that he had also previously predicted would happen. His remains were reburied in the church of St. Laurent in Salon, where his grave and portrait can still be seen to this day.



Part Two

The Prophecies of Nostradamus

Before we can hope to understand the quatrains that Nostradamus wrote, we need to understand the circumstances of the times in which he lived, the character of intellectual thought at the time, and the historical background against which these quatrains were composed. Nostradamus lived his life during that period of European history known as the Reformation. This was a time of great religious ferment. The Catholic Church, which up to then had been the dominant religious force in Western Europe, had become increasingly corrupt. The worst evidence of this was its abuse of the practice of granting “Indulgences”. An “Indulgence” was a special dispensation granted by the Church to sinners who had confessed their sins and received absolution. It was designed to release sinners from the need to undergo Purgatory for their sins on earth. This system of granting indulgences had long been practiced by the Church of Rome. The traditional teaching of the Catholic Church made it clear that all men and women were sinners in the sight of God. Because of this, when they died, they would be condemned to spend a certain period of time in Purgatory as a result of their misdeeds on earth. How long this period would be would depend upon the severity of their sins. However, in 1517, Pope Leo X began to offer indulgences to those who gave alms to rebuild St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. This practice of bartering indulgences for money led to the famous couplet attributed to Johann Tetzel:

“As soon as the gold in the casket rings, The rescued soul to heaven springs.”



So under this new system of indulgences, anyone who could afford to give money to the Church in this life would be able to ensure their salvation in the next. Naturally, this arrangement proved to be extremely profitable to the Church, and especially to those Popes who personally granted these indulgences. This transparent abuse of the teachings of Christ led to an upsurge of protest against the Catholic Church. This protest movement was led in Germany by Martin Luther, and in France by John Calvin, and resulted in a schism in the Church. This movement of “reformation” led to the creation of the Protestant Church, which split away from the Church of Rome. The response of the Pope was to denounce both Luther and Calvin as heretics, and to excommunicate them both. And in order to intimidate and oppress any followers who might be persuaded to join this protestant movement, the Popes of the 16th century initiated a counter movement of investigation, torture and death. This movement came to be known as the “Inquisition”. Any person who was found to be guilty of any act or utterance which the Pope had defined as heresy was subjected to barbaric forms of torture before being burned at the stake. In this way, those who failed to follow the strict teachings of the Catholic Church, as interpreted by the Pope, would experience in this life the agonies of hellfire which surely awaited them in the next. Although Nostradamus remained a staunch Catholic all his life, he was well aware that his interest in the occult was regarded by many as evidence of an allegiance with the Devil. We have seen how Nostradamus was actually accused of heresy at one time in his life, but escaped from his accusers before he could be brought to trial. We must also remember that Nostradamus was very much a man of his time, and used the images and associations of renaissance symbolism to express his ideas. Although much of what he described related to the 20th century and beyond, we cannot judge Nostradamus according to the scientific concepts of the modern age, as so many of his literary critics have mistakenly chosen to do.



During the 16th century, the practice of prophecy and divination was a completely acceptable activity. This was because the universe was regarded as a living organism that was governed by the patterns of planets moving through the zodiac. These planetary movements were considered to be signatures in the sky, and they indicated God’s will and purpose on earth. In the 16th century everyone spoke of the existence of Fate, because Fate and Divine Providence were considered to be the same thing. The Judicial Astrology that Nostradamus talked about was a way of establishing the timing of important world events. At the time that Nostradamus was alive, astrology was not in any way associated with the supernatural or the diabolical. Instead, it was considered to be an acceptable practice based on knowledge and understanding. Every King, Cardinal and Prince had a personal astrologer, without whom he would not have dreamed of starting a war, passing an edict, or undertaking a journey. Conjunctions of the major planets (such as Mars, Jupiter and Saturn) were believed to herald important upheavals and changes in the world. So if Jupiter and Saturn were in conjunction (as they happened to be when Anwar Sadat was assassinated in Egypt, and as they were again when attempts were made on the lives of Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II) then, for the 16th century astrologer, it meant that a King or Head of State was in mortal danger. If again, Mars and Saturn were in conjunction (as they were when Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands) then, for the 16th century astrologer, it meant that war loomed on the horizon. It was only when the art of divination became associated with ritual magic, that the Church authorities suspected that there might be an association with the Devil. In determining the predictions that made up his four-lined verses, Nostradamus used a form of divination that had its origin in the days of ancient Egypt. As we have seen, he used as his guide the recently published work called “De Mysteriis Aegyptiorum”. This was the same method that had been used by the Greek scholar Iamblichus. Nostradamus has described for us his system of divination in the first two verses of his book “The Prophecies”.



The translations used below are those of the noted British scholar and author Erika Cheetham, as they appeared in her book entitled “The Prophecies of Nostradamus”, published in 1973 by Neville Spearman.

Century One: Verse 1 “Sitting alone at night in secret study, It is placed on the brass tripod. A light flame comes out of the emptiness And makes successful that which should not be believed in vain.” Century One: Verse 2 “The wand in the hand is placed in the middle of the tripod’s legs. With water he sprinkles both the hem of his garment and his foot. A voice, fear, he trembles in his robes. Divine splendour – the God sits nearby.”

As Erika Cheetham explains, all the prophetic ingredients used by Nostradamus are contained in these two quatrains. It is night time. Nostradamus sits alone in his study in front of a brass tripod. A bowl of water is placed on top of the tripod. He moistens his robe and feet with water and then gazes into the bowl. After a while it becomes cloudy, but soon pictures of the future begin to appear. The ‘small flame” he refers to is the Divine light of inspiration which made his prophecies possible. Because of these Pagan-like trappings, many critics have tended to dismiss Nostradamus as a charlatan who was caught up in medieval superstition passing for science and true knowledge. This is unfortunate because Nostradamus went great lengths to stress that he considered prophecy to be a Divine gift. He was also scathing in his criticism of imposters who sought to imitate his results by means of subterfuge and occult practices. According to Nostradamus, a contrite heart and an abiding faith in God were vital requirements for the gift of prophecy to be granted. As Nostradamus explained in a letter to his son Cé sar, he did not wish to be considered an infallible prophet, but only as an accomplished and diligent scholar who strove to acquire insight and understanding into the inscrutable ways of God. As he wrote in this letter dated March 1st, 1555, translated by Jean Charles de Fontbrune:



“On numerous occasions, and over a long period of time, I have predicted specific events far in advance, attributing all to the workings of Divine power and inspiration. Yet I have wished to remain silent and abandon my work, because of the injustice, not only of the present time, (he is referring here to the Inquisition) but also for most of the future.” “Bear in mind also our Savior’s words. Do not cast anything holy to the dogs, nor throw pearls in front of pigs, lest they trample them with their feet and turn on you and tear you apart.” (Matthew 7: 6) “And so again, my son, I have eschewed the word prophet. I do not wish to attribute to myself such a lofty title at the present time, since a prophet, my son, is properly speaking, one who sees distant things through a natural knowledge of all creatures.” “Perfect knowledge of such things cannot be acquired without Divine inspiration, given that all prophetic inspiration derives its initial origin from God Almighty – then from Chance and Nature. For understanding, created by the intellect, cannot be acquired by means of the occult, only by the aid of the Zodiac, bringing forth that small flame by whose light part of the future may be discerned.”

Nostradamus added a stern warning to those unqualified researchers who might try to interpret his words: “Let all astrologers, fools and barbarians keep away from my work.”

In referring in the above letter to the Inquisition, we must remember that Nostradamus had already had one brush with the Church authorities, and that he did not wish to come under their scrutiny again. Had he gone ahead and published his predictions in plain language for all to understand, it would not have been long before some cleric would have branded him as a servant of the Devil, and he would no doubt have ended his life at the stake. Not only would he have lost his life, but his writings would have been declared heretical by the Pope, and every copy of his prophecies would then



have been destroyed, making it highly unlikely that we would be aware of them today. He therefore deliberately chose to write his quatrains in an obscure way. As he mentioned in his letter to his son: “The whole work is thus written in a nebulous, rather than plainly

prophetic form.”

In order to avoid being prosecuted as a magician, Nostradamus seldom comes out and states specifically what will happen. Instead, he adopts a devious way of describing future events. He chooses rather to describe the impact which these events will have on the people to whom they occur. And yet when one thinks of the task that Nostradamus set himself, which was to convert the dramatic images that he saw in the bowl of water into words, and then condense these words into short four line rhyming verses, it is amazing that any of his verses make any sense at all. His task was similar to the challenge that would confront someone who might watch the evening news on TV, and then try to describe what had been seen in four line verses, written in such a way that line 1 rhymed with line 3, and line 2 with line 4. That Nostradamus was able to achieve the success that he did was a quite remarkable accomplishment. The verses of “The Prophecies” – all 4772 lines of them – were written in old Provincial French. This was a language that was still very close to its Latin and Greek roots, and was quite different from the modern French language that is spoken today. This is one of the reasons why so many commentators over the years have struggled to translate his verses. His verses were also filled with anagrams, confusing names and other linguistic riddles. These stratagems were deliberately chosen by Nostradamus to obscure their meaning, to ensure that they would only be understood after careful analysis and investigation. Their meaning would almost never be obvious to the casual reader. Nostradamus would conceal the names of towns destined to become famous, by using small neighboring towns instead. He would also disguise them by means of popular names or nicknames, and spell them without capital letters.



As if his archaic and convoluted style was not enough, Nostradamus also juggled the order of his verses. Although they were originally written in chronological order, he later scrambled them before they were published, so that very few verses were linked together in time. Verses of prophecies relating to completely different centuries have ended up next to one another, making it even more difficult for commentators to interpret them. Yet because Nostradamus was so obscure, and because his verses were filled with so many confusing place names and other literary devices designed to make each verse rhyme, many readers have despaired of ever understanding them. In fact the response of many critics has been that his verses are so obscure that one can read almost anything one likes into them, and that because of this, they have virtually no prophetic value at all. Let those who wish to interpret the prophecies of Nostradamus be under no illusion. They are extremely difficult to understand. They are deliberately written to confuse the casual reader. But if Nostradamus was successful in hiding the meaning of his prophetic verses from the authorities of the Church in his own time, he was also successful in leaving a literary conundrum for future generations. If his verses had been easy to interpret, they would undoubtedly have been destroyed by any one of the political and military despots who lived and ruled in succeeding centuries. But by making them obscure and complex he ensured that they would continue to tantalize future generations, and this has proved to be the case.

Despite their complexity and convoluted style, the prophecies of Nostradamus have continued to fascinate people for more than four centuries. In fact, other than the Bible, the prophecies of Nostradamus are the only written works which have been continually in print for the last four hundred years. Although Nostradamus was deliberately vague about the dating of his verses, he made it clear that he could easily have dated each of his quatrains if he had wanted to. In a letter addressed to “Henry, Second King of France”, he wrote:

“These predictions made with the aid of astronomy and other methods, and even by the Holy Scriptures, cannot not happen. Had



I wished, I could have put a calculation of time with each quatrain; but that would not have pleased everyone, and my interpretations still less, unless your Majesty granted me enough protection to do this, so as not to give slanderers pretext for attacking me.”

But if the quatrains that Nostradamus wrote are frustratingly difficult to understand, especially when the events that he referred to have not yet occurred, when seen in retrospect, many of his verses have seemed to be astonishingly accurate. Here are some examples of his successful quatrains, with interpretations provided by Erika Cheetham as quoted from her book “The Prophecies of Nostradamus”. We begin with a verse that was one of the clearest and most accurate prophecies that Nostradamus ever wrote.

Century One: Verse 35 “The young lion will overcome the older one, In a field of combat in single fight: He will pierce his eyes in their golden cage; Two wounds in one, then he dies a cruel death.” (Death of Henri II, 10th July, 1559) “This quatrain was understood in France during Nostradamus’ lifetime, and was one of the verses that caused Catherine de Medici to send for Nostradamus to interpret it. The Italian prophet Luc Gauric had warned Henri II that both the beginning and the end of his reign would be marked by a duel.” “The first took place soon after his accession, so it seems strange that the king did not take more care in the tournaments held in honor of the double marriage of his sister Elizabeth to Philip II of Spain and Marguerite his daughter to the Duke of Savoy in the summer of 1559.” “During the festivities, which lasted for three days, the king joined in the competitions in the lists at the rue St. Antoine. He was victorious for the first two days, but on the third rode against Montgomery, the captain of the Scottish Guard.”



“Henri failed to unseat his opponent and insisted on refighting the bout. On the third try they splintered lances successfully, but Montgomery failed to pull up his lance in time, and the splintered shaft pierced the king’s gilt helmet and entered the head just above the eye.” “Henri’s end was cruel indeed, he lay in agony for ten days before death released him. Montgomery was seven years younger than Henri who was forty when he died. Henri sometimes used the lion as his emblem.” “The English ambassador to the French Court at the time, Throgmorton, wrote to Queen Elizabeth I of England about this prediction and the effect it had on the more credulous courtiers, long before it occurred.”

Here we have another verse that refers to the death of Henri II, but this verse was placed by Nostradamus in his third book of Centuries.

Century Three: Verse 55 “In the year that France has a one-eyed king, The Court will be in very great trouble. The great man from Blois will kill his friend, The kingdom put into difficulty and double doubt.” (The death of Henri II and the reign of Henri III, 1559-1589) “This famous quatrain was understood by contemporaries of Nostradamus. The one-eyed king was Henry II killed in the duel of 1559, being wounded in the eye by Montgomery and dying after ten days of agony. The last two lines describe his son Henry III, who assassinates the de Guise brothers at Blois, and the general civil unrest which followed this action. The words ‘double doubt’ probably refers to the two factions, the Leaguers and the Royalists.”



Century Two: Verse 51 “The blood of the just will be demanded of London, Burnt by fire in three times twenty plus six. The ancient lady will fall from her high position, And many of the same denomination will be killed.” (Great fire of London, 1666) “The only fire in London occurring in a year ’66 is the great one of 1666. This is one of Nostradamus’ more interesting quatrains where he gets very close to giving an accurate dating that can be checked historically. The “ancient lady” who falls is interpreted as the Cathedral of St. Paul’s, which was destroyed, and the others of the same denomination, either the churches or their occupants.” “Many people did flee from their wooden homes hoping to escape the flames in the stone-built churches, but the heat was so intense that even these buildings did not escape. The blood of the just is understood to mean that the victims of the fire were undeserving of their fate.” Century Three: Verse 77 “The third climate included under Aries, In the year 1727 in October, The king of Persia captured by those of Egypt: Battle, death, loss: great shame to the cross.” (October 1727, Persia) “Here is a quatrain with not only the year, but the actual month and place! Nostradamus must have overlooked it when he went through the quatrains to make them more difficult to interpret. It is quite correct. In October 1727 a peace was concluded between the Turks and the Persians. Egypt belonged to the Ottoman Empire and stands for the Turks.” “The loss to Christianity is explained by the fact that the Shah Ashraf, in return for the recognition of his dynasty, gave the lands



of Emvan, Tauris and Hamadan to the Turks and recognized the Sultan as legitimate successor to the Caliph. The Ottoman power continued in strength until this century, and no more Crusades were ever raised by the Christians.” Century One: Verse 77 “A promontory stands between two seas: A man who will die later by the bit of a horse; Neptune unfurls a black sail for his man; The fleet near Gibraltar and the Rocheval.” (The battle of Trafalgar, 1805) “The promontory separating the seas is Gibraltar between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. The French and English fleets fought the battle of Trafalgar between Gibraltar and Cape Roche (Rocheval), Trafalgar itself being a point between two bays.” “The leader of the French fleet, Admiral Villeneuve, was reputedly strangled by one of Napoleon’s Mamelukes with the bridle of a horse at an inn in Rennes in 1806, when he returned to France having been taken prisoner by the English. When Nelson was mortally wounded his ship raised a black sail on its return voyage to England.” Century One: Verse 23 “In the third month, at sunrise, The Boar and the Leopard meet on the battlefield. The fatigued Leopard looks up to heaven And sees an eagle playing around the sun.” (The battle of Waterloo, 18th June 1815) “This is one of Nostradamus’ most fascinating quatrains… . Dating from the March solstice, which Nostradamus would have done, we are given the month of June for the date of the battle. This is a typical example of Nostradamus’ convoluted style in which meaning after meaning appears to be contained in one phrase.”



“The French troops battered the English Leopard all day from sunrise to evening while Wellington waited for his ally Blücher to turn the French flank. Wellington’s position was facing south so he would have seen Napoleon’s Imperial eagles flying against the sun.” “As the day drew to a close, the British were exhausted. A cloud of dust was seen. Napoleon thought it was Grouchy, but it was Blücher. The end had come. This is a vivid and poetic quatrain of a much higher standard than most. The Imperial eagle is often used in the Centuries as a synonym for Napoleon himself. On this occasion it refers both to the standards and to the man. Napoleon used to call the English heraldic lion the Leopard of England.” Century One: Verse 25 “The lost thing is discovered hidden for many centuries. Pasteur will be celebrated almost as a god-like figure. This is when the moon completes her great cycle, But by other rumors he shall be dishonored.” (Louis Pasteur, 1822-1895) “Another fascinating quatrain which contains not only the name of Pasteur, but also a very specific dating although not apparent at first. Pasteur’s discovery that germs polluted the atmosphere was one of the most important in medical history, and led to Lister’s theory of sterilization.” “The Encyclopaedia Brittanica says that Pasteur, the “demi-God”, ‘was now the acknowledged head of the greatest chemical movement of the time’. He founded his Institute Pasteur on 14th November 1889; the cycle of the moon ran from 1535 to 1889. The rumors that dishonored him may mean the violent opposition to his methods which were roused among powerful members of the Academy, against the new practices of the Institute such as vaccines against hydrophobia and other diseases.”



Chapter Nine: Verse 16 “From Castille Franco will bring out the assembly, The ambassadors will not agree and cause a schism. The people of Riviera will be in the crowd, And the great man will be denied entry to the Gulf.” (Franco and de Rivera) “This is an extraordinary verse with the names of two personages in it. The Dictator Primo de Rivera and also Francisco Franco, who helped depose him, and was exiled to Morocco, returning triumphantly when his party came to power. The last line is held to describe Franco’s exile when he was not allowed to cross the Mediterranean (gulf) to his native Spain.” Century Two: Verse 24 “Beasts wild with hunger will cross the rivers, The greater part of the battlefield will be against Hister. He will drag the leader in a cage of iron, When the child of Germany observes no law.” (Hitler) “One of Nostradamus’ most remarkable series of quatrains, with the name of Hitler given in an anagram of Hister. There can be little doubt that Hitler is implied; who else could be so well described by the last line, the German who observed no law? Commentators before 1930 understood Hister to be the river Danube, from its Latin name Ister. But Hitler recognized himself in these quatrains by the mid 1930s and Goebbels made great propaganda out of them in the pre-war party years.” Century Four: Verse 68 “At a nearby place not far from Venus, The two greatest ones of Asia and Africa Will be said to have come from the Rhine and Hister; Cries and tears at Malta and the Ligurian coast.”



(Tripartite Pact. Hitler and Mussolini) “The word Venus is the clue to this quatrain. It undoubtedly stands for Venice, thus linking Italy with Hitler. The two dictators met not far from the city at the Brenner Pass to seal the Tripartite Pact with Asia, that is, the Japanese. The last line refers to the blockade of Malta by the Italians, and the trouble on the Ligurian coast, to the Allied bombing of Genoa, and to the bombardments by British battleships operating from Gibraltar.” Century Five: Verse 29 “Liberty will not be regained; It will be occupied by a black, proud, villainous and unjust man. When the matter of the Pope is opened by Hister, The republic of Venice will be vexed.” (Hitler, the Vatican and Mussolini) “This quatrain describes Mussolini’s intrigues to secure an alliance with Hitler between the years 1934-1938. Hitler and Mussolini met at Venice – by this time a republic with Mussolini as its dictator. Note how accurate Nostradamus’ details are. The adjective black probably also refers to the Fascisti – the black-shirts.” “The matter of the Pope refers to the Concordat drawn up between Mussolini and the Pope in 1928, which line 4 infers will bring trouble or war to Italy, as indeed it did. We must also consider pope Pius’ extremely ambiguous attitude towards the Nazis and the help that the Vatican gave them to escape at the end of the war. A disgraceful ending to any Papacy.”

The above examples serve to show that, despite his deliberate attempts to disguise the true meaning of his quatrains, Nostradamus was successful in identifying the names of historical people who would appear on the world stage many centuries after his death, together with the relevant circumstances of those times.



Yet for all the verses that commentators have successfully identified, many more continue to mystify them. We may assume that most of these verses refer to events that are yet to come. Many of these as yet unrecognized verses refer to a time of great turmoil on the earth, and bear a striking resemblance to the prophecies recorded in the Book of Revelation. Nostradamus was a dedicated Christian, and was therefore well aware of the various prophecies contained in the Bible, especially those events that were prophesied to occur during the end times, leading up to the return of the Christ and the promised thousand years of peace. He would also have been aware of the words of Jesus, who when asked about the signs that would occur on the earth during the latter days leading up to his return, replied:

“For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be.” (Mark 13:19)

Nostradamus predicted that a time would come in the future when the world would be embroiled in wars, and the population of the entire planet would undergo extreme misery, hunger, disease and suffering. The suffering that Nostradamus predicted would be so intense and so widespread, that it would certainly seem to bear out the words of Jesus. But whereas most of Nostradamus’ verses were deliberately couched in mystifying terms, these particular verses seem to make no attempt to hide their meaning. They speak in graphic detail of the horrors that would unfold at some future time. The following are just some of the many verses that deal with this future suffering.

Century One: Verse 67 “The great famine which I sense approaching Will often turn (in various areas) then become world wide. It will be so vast and long lasting that they will Grab roots from the trees and children from the breast.”



Century Two: Verse 46 “After great misery for mankind an even greater approaches When the great cycle of the centuries is renewed. It will rain blood, milk, famine, war and disease. In the sky will be seen a fire, dragging a trail of sparks.” Century Two: Verse 62 “Mabus will then soon die and there will come A dreadful destruction of people and animals. Sudden vengeance will be revealed, a hundred hands, Thirst and hunger, when the comet will pass.” Century Two: Verse 91 “At sunrise a great fire will be seen, Noise and light extending towards the North. Within the globe death and cries are heard, Death awaiting them through weapons, fire and famine.” Century Four: Verse 67 “In the year that Saturn and Mars are equally fiery, The air is very dry, a long meteor. From hidden fires a great place burns with heat, Little rain, a hot wind, wars and raids.” Century Six: Verse 5 “A very great famine (caused) by a pestilent wave Will extend its long rain the length of the Arctic pole. Samarobrin one hundred leagues from the hemisphere; They will live without law, exempt from politics.”



Century Six: Verse 81 “Tears, cries and wailing, howls and terror, An inhuman cruel heart, black and cold. Lake Geneva, the islands, the main people of Genoa; Blood pours, hunger for wheat, mercy to none.” Century Nine: Verse 55 “The dreadful war which is prepared in the West, The following year the pestilence will come, So very horrible that young, nor old, nor animal (will survive), Blood, fire, Mars, Jupiter in France.”

Although it is not clear exactly what horrors Nostradamus was referring to in the verses quoted above, or when these disasters would occur, one can hardly avoid the sense of gloom and despair at the dark times for humanity that are portrayed in these verses. They do indeed suggest the time of affliction predicted by Jesus. However, Nostradamus did not always speak in riddles. We still have copies of several of his letters, in which he wrote explicitly in prose about the events he predicted would occur in the “latter days” spoken of in the Bible. In a letter to his son Cé sar, dated March 1st, 1555, Nostradamus wrote:

“But my son, lest I venture too far for your future perception, be aware that men of letters shall make grand and usually boastful claims about the way I interpreted the world, before the worldwide conflagration which is to bring so many catastrophes and such revolutions, that scarcely any lands will not be covered with water, and this will last until all has perished save history and geography themselves.” “This is why, before and after these revolutions in various countries, the rains will be so diminished and such abundance of fire, and fiery missiles shall fall from the heavens, and nothing shall escape the holocaust. And this will occur before the last conflagration.”



“For before the war ends the century, and in its final stages it will hold the century under its sway. Some countries will be in the grip of revolution for several years, and others ruined for a still longer period. And now that we are in a Republican period, with Almighty God’s aid, and before completing its full cycle, the Monarchy will return, then the Golden Age. For according to the celestial signs, the Golden Age shall return. This will be after the visible judgment of Heaven, before we reach the millennium that shall complete all.”

In the above letter Nostradamus makes reference to the Republic (now that we are in a Republican period). This was his method of referring to rule by the people – as in the days of Rome. This is also characteristic of the democratic ideals of the modern world. He then goes on to refer to the Monarchy (the Monarchy will return). This is a reference to the return of Christ - the future King of the world during the thousand years of peace. Nostradamus wrote another letter dealing with the events that would lead up to the return of the Christ. This letter was written on 27th June, 1558. It was addressed to “Henry, Second King of France”. In this letter he wrote:

“Then the great empire of the Anti-Christ will begin in the Altai Mountains, and at Sevrej, whence he shall descend with innumerable troops, so that the coming of the Holy Spirit that advances along the 48° longitude shall change place, pursued by the Abomination of the Anti-Christ, waging war with the great King who will be the vicar of Jesus Christ at the right and proper time.” “This event will precede the obscurest and darkest eclipse of the sun seen since the creation of the world, and the passion and death of Jesus Christ until then. Then, in the month of October, there will be a great translatory movement, so much so, that it will be thought the earth has lost its natural motion and is plunged into perpetual darkness. Before this, there shall have been signs in the spring equinox.” “Thus there will be a universal peace among men and the Church of Jesus Christ be delivered from all tribulation, and that shall be close to the seventh millennium (the year 2000), so that Jesus



Christ’s sanctuary will no longer be trampled by the feet of the unfaithful ones coming from Russia, the world approaching a great conflagration, although my calculations in my prophecies do not cover the whole course of time, – which goes far further.”

Of the days prior to the millennium of peace, Nostradamus writes as follows:

“The Old and New Testaments shall be forbidden and burned, after which the Antichrist shall be the infernal prince; and for the last time all the Christian countries shall tremble and also because of the unfaithful ones.” “For twenty-five years there shall be wars and battles still more ruinous, and towns, villages, castles and other buildings shall be burned, laid waste or destroyed, with a great flood of the blood of young girls, married women, violated widows, suckling infants thrown against the walls of towns, dashed thus and bruised.” “And so many misfortunes will be provoked by Satan, Prince of Darkness, that almost all the planet will be in chaos and laid waste.”

Finally, writes Nostradamus, the long awaited moment of salvation will come.

“After this time, which men will find long, the peace of the earth will be renewed through the coming of the Golden Age. God the creator, hearing the affliction of his people, shall order Satan to be bound and cast into the abyss of Hell, into the deepest pit.” “Thus shall commence a universal peace with God and men, and Satan shall remain bound for about a thousand years, which will bring greater strength to the power of the Church; and then he will once again be released.”

Given Nostradamus’ unique prophetic gift, it is hardly surprising that he forecast that his writings would continue to be published, and would continue to fascinate and tantalize the minds of future generations. In his letter to Henri, he wrote: “After my death my writing will be better known than during my lifetime.”



He also sensed that his prophecies would only come to be understood by the generation that was living through the times that he described. We who are alive today are acutely aware that we live in a world beset with violence and war, and subject to increasingly drastic changes in the weather that threaten the existence of all life on the planet. Truly, these are apocalyptic times. Perceptive students of history recognize that we have reached a climactic point in the history of the earth. This is how Jean de Fontbrune, one of the great interpreters of the prophecies of Nostradamus in the twentieth century, sums up the present state of the world:

“We are living through the end of a world, not the end of the world, as some exploiters of the morbid are claiming. The death of one civilization among so many others will herald the birth of a new civilization freed from the aberrations of its predecessor. This is what Henry Miller sensed, when he wrote in 1945: A new world is being born, a new kind of man is springing up today. The great mass of mankind, destined in our time to suffer more cruelly than ever before, ends by being paralysed with fear, becoming introspective, shaken to the very core, and does not hear, see or feel anything more than everyday physical needs. It is thus that worlds die. First and foremost, the flesh dies. But although few clearly recognize it, the flesh would not have died if the spirit had not been killed already.”

Jean de Fontbrune goes on to add:

“Every civilization thinks itself immortal: I am certain that the Romans of AD 200-250 could not imagine, according to their own prophets, that a few centuries later the ruins of their once immense and brilliant empire would be visited by tourists.”

The purpose of the prophecies of Nostradamus was to bring hope to mankind. Despite the litany of disasters that have already occurred, and the calamities that still await, mankind is on the threshold of the most enlightened age in the history of the earth. Out of the ruins of the old will arise a shining new beginning filled with peace, prosperity and joy.



The words of Nostradamus remain a beacon of hope in the dark days that lie ahead. He speaks to all humanity, and bids them open their eyes to the unfolding glory that is their destiny. His words echo down the centuries.

“The peace of the earth shall be renewed… . .For according to the celestial signs the Golden Age shall return… … There will be a universal peace among men and the Church of Jesus Christ be delivered from all tribulation.”

Discover more about the future and what it holds for you at:

http://www.TheLastDaysofTolemac.com

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