Michel Nostradamus was born in sixteenth century France to educated parents. He initally practiced as a Doctor and his particular methodology of healing saved countless lives during the breakout of plague of 1520. Unfortunately he lost his first wife and daughter to the plague.
Nostradamus was said to be able to predict the future through a combination of astrological study and divine inspiration. He had rigorously studied the supposed relationship between the movement of heavenly bodies and earthly events, and he claimed an angelic spirit helped him understand how these forces would manifest themselves. Meditating late into the night, Nostradamus claimed, he would see and understand events in the near and distant future.
Nostradamus’ major work on prophecies, now referred to as “The Centuries,” was published in installments over the course of several years. His work consisted of about a thousand quatrains(i.e four-lined verses), collected in groups of a hundred. The title “The Centuries” refers to the organizing structure of the work and not to periods of time.
Each quatrain, written predominantly in French foretells a particular event or era. These accounts are confusing as they’re full of esoteric metaphor and anagrams. Even the few dates or specific geographical references that are included are not arranged in chronological order.
According to the work’s preface which happens to be a letter from Nostradamus to his son Cesar (a child from his second marriage), the verses were intended to be mystifying. In it Nostradamus confided he was afraid that he would be persecuted and his work destroyed if authorities in his time fully understood his predictions. According to him, his cryptic prophecies would be better understood by enlightened people in the future.
1. London Fire of 1666
The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through the central parts of the English city of London. The fire gutted the medieval City of London inside the old Roman City Wall. It even threatened to reach the aristocratic district of Westminster where the then King, Charles II resided. It consumed 13,200 houses, 87 parish churches, St. Paul’s Cathedral and most of the buildings of the City authorities. It is also believed to have destroyed the homes of 70,000 of the City’s 80,000 inhabitants. The total monetary loss was estimated at 10,000,000 pounds.
” The blood of the just will be
demanded of London
Burnt by fire in the year ’66
The ancient Lady will fall from her high place
And many of the same sect will be killed “
This quatrain is unique because Nostradamus specified a number related to the event he described. Still, while the prophecy has some specifics like a location and a date, terms such as “blood of the just” and “ancient lady” are left open to interpretation, just as Nostradamus intended. But since we can deconstruct his prophecies in several ways, they’ve never been used to predict an event before it has occurred. And since Nostradamus’ prophecies are so vague, it’s difficult to pin any of them to a particular era, much less a specific year.
Critics say that although the quatrain predicted the London fire of 1666, the number 66 (“twenty threes the six”), doesn’t specify a century some even suggest that the number 66 may not refer to a year at all.
2. The Rise of Hitler :
” From the depths of the West of Europe,
A young child will be born of poor people,
He who by his tongue will seduce a great troop;
His fame will increase towards the realm of the East. “
Hitler was known for his skills as an orator. Infact during the first world war he served as messenger between the front and the command base for Germany earning an Iron Cross in the process. It is said that his regiment once met with a mustard gas attack which affected his voice giving it that weird but intimidating tone he was known for.
The most notable bit however is of Hitler’s impoverished upbringing. He lost two of his siblings when he was hardly three years old. His father regularly beat him and after his death in 1903, his mother also died of terminal breast cancer. Hitler also failed to make it as an artist and was virtually penniless by 1909.
Nostradamus was known to play word games with the names of famous persons in order to confuse those attempting to interpret his prophecies before their time. The word “Hister” is believed to be a combination of two words “Hitler” and “Ister,” thus providing both the name and place of origin of the Nazi leader. The word “Ister” was the Latin name for the Danube River in Germany, on whose banks Adolf Hitler was born.
The last line refers to Japan which was one of Germany’s allies (the other being Italy) in the Axis Forces.
3. Hiroshima and Nagasaki Bombing :
” Near the gates and within two cities
There will be scourges the like of which was never seen,
Famine within plague, people put out by steel,
Crying to the great immortal God for relief. “
This is one of Nostradamus’ predictions that has remained largely undisputed. It’s a near accurate description of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Phrases like “Scourges the like of which was never seen,” and “crying to the great immortal God.” describe the taruma the Japanese people were subjected to. Nostradamus accurately predicted the scale and depth of the horror, the unprecedented death toll from just two bombs, and the fact that, as an act of war, it was unlike anything the world had ever seen before.
4. French Revolution :
” From the enslaved populace, songs, Chants and demands
While princes and lords are held captive in prisons.
These will in the future by headless idiots
Be received as divine prayers. “
We all know about the French Revolution which took place in 1789, right ? France was ruled by Louis XVI at the time and faced a major economic crisis which was partially initiated by the cost of intervening in the American Revolution (in 1776). Also several key economic decisions were held back by the archaic protocols and conservatism of the nobility (who accounted for only 2% of France’s upper class population)
The peasants (“the enslaved populace”) rose to power, the aristocracy was taken down and beheaded (the “headless idiots,” now “princes and lords … held captive in prisons”).
The “great wall” falling is believed to mean the storming of the Bastille. The medieval fortress and prison in Paris represented royal authority in the center of Paris. The prison only contained seven inmates at the time of its storming but was a symbol of the abuses of the monarchy and its fall was the flashpoint of the French Revolution.
Critics however dispute that it is possible that Nostradamus foresaw the brewing of a peasant uprising in his own time as he saw the contrast between an aristocrat and a commoner in 16th-century France.
5. Louis Pasteur :
” Lost, found, hidden for so long a time,
the pastor will be honored as a demigod:
Before the Moon finishes its full period
he will be dishonored by other winds. “
Although “Pastor” could refer to any other brilliant person who carried a similar name, it is mostly believed that this Nostradamus prophecy points to Louis Pasteur, who lived from 1822 to 1895. Born in Dole, Pasteur was a French chemist who offered the world a number of major scientific breakthroughs. Apart from his remarkable discoveries in the management and treatment of puerperal fever, he was also responsible for creating the first ever vaccination for anthrax and rabies. Considered to be one of the three founding fathers of microbiology, Pasteur also became famous for coming up with pasteurization which is a process for sterilizing milk and wine.
However it is possible that Nostradamus may have been accurate with the date : Roussat, a Jewish Astrologer whose work Nostradamus was familiar with, put the end of the Moon cycle at 1887 – by which time Pasteur was applying his ‘revolutionary’ immunization technology.
6. The Rise of Napoleon :
“ PAU, NAY, LORON will be more of fire than of the blood,
To swim in praise, the great one to flee to the confluence.
He will refuse entry to the Piuses,
The depraved ones and the Durance will keep them imprisoned. “
There are innumerable references to Napoleon throughout Nostradamus’ works, describing specific events in Napoleon’s long military career which influenced the future of France. There are some who also feel that certain Bible references point to Napoleon (Bible – Apollyon) as the messianic anti-christ who attempts to seat himself as both military and religious head of the western world. It was in fact Napoleon who placed the Pope’s crown on his own head and held the Pope prisoner for a period of 42 months, thus fulfilling a famous Bible prophecy.
This is again one of the most famous prophecy of nostradamus, in which he directly mentions a name. If The letters PAU, NAY, LORON are re-arranged they form “Napaulon Roy”,or Napoleon Bonaparte, the fabled emperor of France. In this quatrain Nostradamus mentions about the rise of napoleon and describe napoleon as “more of fire than of blood”.The ‘Piuses’ of the third line are the Popes Pius VI and Pius VII, who were imprisoned.
7. Space Shuttle Challenger Explosion :
” From the human flock nine will be sent away,
Separated from judgment and counsel
Their fate will be sealed on departure
Kappa, Thita, Lambda the banished dead err. “
The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster occurred on January 28, 1986, when Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, leading to the deaths of its seven crew members. Although the exact timing of the death of the crew is unknown, several crew members are known to have survived the initial breakup of the spacecraft. However, the shuttle had no escape system and the impact of the crew compartment with the ocean surface was too violent to be survivable.
The mission had generated huge media interest because of the participation of a teacher Christa McAuliffe who was supposed to be the first Teacher in Space. Among America’s Darkest hours the Challenger disaster distinctly stands out as it was called an Educational mission because of McAuliffe’s presence.
The Rogers Commission appointed by the then president Ronald Reagan, found the cause of the crash to be a defective O-ring made by Thiokol. Believers of the prophecy somehow arrange the letters from Kappa, Thita and Lamda to fit the name of the company. However, they tend to ignore the fact that seven died in the disaster, not nine (nine will be sent away from the human flock).
8. Princess Diana’s death :
Princess Diana of Wales died on August 31, 1997 after sustaining extensive injuries from a car accident. At that time, she was with her boyfriend Dodi Al-Fayed, Fayed’s bodyguard, and the driver. The only person who survived the accident was the bodyguard . Earlier, it was thought that the paparazzi were to blame, but a 1999 French judicial investigation conclusion pointed the finger at the driver, Henri Paul who was found to be under the influence of alcohol and had traces of a tranquilizer in his body. The fact that Diana’s name is in the text speaks a lot to Nostradamus’ followers because specific names are a rarity in his works.
” The penultimate of the surname of Prophet
Will take Diana for his day and rest:
He will wander because of a frantic head,
And delivering a great people from subjection. “
Pay careful attention here: The father of Princess Diana’s boyfriend, Dodi Al-Fayed, was named Mohamed (“the Prophet” who gave birth to islam).
“wander because of a frantic head”, could refer to the world-wide grief shared by people of many nationalities whose only contact with the Princess was through photographs. We know for a fact that Diana was a public figure, infact she was ranked 3rd on the BBC’s poll of the 100 Greatest Britons, outranking The Queen and other British monarchs !!
“Delivering a great people from subjection.” Diana’s death aroused an unprecedented expression of emotion in England. Here was a nation reputed to be emotionally reserved, repressed and instinctively cynical of all things sentimental. But suddenly the nation was rocked by a tidal wave of compassion with people leaving public offerings of flowers, candles, cards and personal messages outside Kensington Palace for many months after her death.
9. Assassination of John and Robert Kennedy :
” The great man will be struck down in the day by a thunderbolt,
The evil deed predicted by the bearer of a petition
According to the prediction another falls at night time.
Conflict in Reims, London, and pestilence in Tuscany. “
Believers are certain that the deaths of the Kennedy brothers are part of the Nostradamus prophecies that came true. John F. Kennedy, who heralded a new future for America was assassinated in the afternoon of November 22, 1963. The thunderbolt is the prefect analogy for a sniper’s bullet coming out of nowhere which killed JFK who was travelling in a Presidential motorcade with his wife, the Texan governor, and the governor’s wife.
5 years later Robert F. Kennedy decided to run for president (he had served as the Attorney-General when JFK was president). ‘The Great American Dream’ hopes were renewed by the political rise of Robert Kennedy, who won a decisive victory in the California primary. The Kennedy charisma was back and, riding on a wave of political support and public euphoria, Robert seemed destined for the White House. However just a few minutes after delivering his victory speech in New York, Robert Kennedy was assassinated.
The last line however continues to remain a mystery.
10. 9/11 Terrorist Attack :
“ Volcanic fire from the center of the earth
will cause trembling around the new city:
Two great rocks will make war for a long time.
Then Arethusa will redden a new river. “
“ In the year 1999, in the seventh month,
from the sky will come the great King of Terror,
bringing back to life the great King of the Mongols.
Before and after, Mars to reign by good fortune. ”
The mention of “New City” ,”Center of earth”(world trade center) and “Towers”(Twin Towers) is believed to foretell the 9/11 terror attacks. Arethusa is believed to be another anagram used by Nostradamus, which many connect to “Laden”. On that fateful morning, the hijackers intentionally crashed the jets into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, killing everyone on board and many others working in the buildings (which housed the offices of Morgan Stanley, Bank of America and Lehman Brothers among several others). Both towers collapsed within two hours, destroying nearby buildings and damaging others. There were no survivors from any of the flights.
More intriguing, however, are the following four lines.
” In the City of God there will be a great thunder,
Two brothers torn apart by Chaos,
while the fortress endures,
the great leader will succumb. ”
They were written before 9/11 by a college student named Neil Marshall. He included them in an article in which, ironically enough, he was debunking Nostradamus. He wanted to show that if you write something vague enough it can be interpreted to mean almost anything. An unknown hoaxer lifted the lines from Marshall’s article and began to circulate them via email. In fact for a brief time following 9/11, Nostradamus became the most popular search term on every internet search engines.
I don’t know who it is, but that is NOT a picture of Robert Kennedy.