Nostradamus, the French Christian Jew who lived
in France in the 16th century, made many forecasts.
He was in his late 40s when, it is told, he frequently
went into a meditative state and had visions of
the future. He began to document the visions in
a mixture of Lain, French, and Greek quatrains,
publishing his famous "Centuries" in 1558.
Many people are having the doubt, "Did Nostradamus
predict the end of the world?" The very short
answer to this question is "No". Michel
de Nostredame, later to become known as Nostradamus,
was born in France in 1503 and died in 1566. He
was a very well-educated man, an astrologer, an
author, and a doctor, who specialized in the treatment
of the Bubonic Plague. He became known as one of
the leading experts in the treatment of the Plague.
In spite of his expertise, his wife and two children
succumbed to the illness and subsequently died from
it.
He
wrote so many quatrains and sixains. His 'so called'
prophesies and predictions have been extracted from
that approximately 1000 letters he wrote in 4-line
(quatrains) and 6-line (sixains) verses. In one of
the letters, he clearly states (in plain French) that
his predictions will go on for thousands of years,
out to the year 3797. This is not a prediction for
the end of the world, rather a statement about how
far his projections would extend.
Most interestingly, many of the so-called Nostradamus
prophecies circulating today are merely urban legends
-- often his original quatrains are cut and tie together
to sound good after major world events. For instance,
shortly after the September 11th terrorist attacks
in the U.S., a large number of so-called Nostradamus
prophecies began circulating the Internet and news
media. Here are a few of them:
"In
the year of the new century and nine months, From
the sky will come a great King of Terror... The sky
will burn at forty-five degrees. Fire approaches the
great new city..."
"In the city of York there will
be a great collapse, two twin brothers torn apart
by chaos while the fortress falls the great leader
will succumb third big war will begin when the big
city is burning"
"It has been foreseen that exactly
three hundred and fifty years into the future, Silver
phoenixes shall strike down the twin brothers of oppression
That carried the king's nation, which shall bring
upon the apocalypse. In the City of God there will
be a great thunder, two brothers torn apart by chaos"
These quatrains are fraud. The first
two lines seem to be an alteration of Centuries X,
quatrain 72:
L'an mil neuf cent nonante neuf sept
mois,
Du ciel viendra un grand Roi d'Angoumois.
Or in English,
The year 1999 seven months
From the sky will come the great King of Terror.*
There is no reference in Nostradamus to "the new
century and nine months."
The next two lines are from Centuries VI, quatrain 97.
Cinq et quarante degrés ciel brûlera,
Feu approcher de la grand cité neuve,
Or in English,
At forty-five degrees the sky will burn,
Fire to approach the great new city:
Some
rumormongers speculated that 45 degrees refers to
the latitude of New York, but the latitude in Central
Park is 40° 47' N. Any but the dimmest bulb should
be able to shoehorn "at 45 degrees the sky will
burn" with some aspect of the terrorist attacks.
So, did Nostradamus predict the attacks against the
Twin Towers in New York? No, Nostradamus didn't write
these quatrains - they were squeezed and twisted to
somewhat match the event. Internet rumors claim French
seer Nostradamus predicted the September 11 attacks!
Nostradamus' original quatrain reads,
"In the year 1999 and seven months, from the
skies shall come an alarming powerful king" (Century
10:72). Neither is there a mention of "twin brothers"
being "torn apart." The quatrain actually
says, "Two royal brothers shall war so much one
against the other" (Century 3:97). Finally, as
for collapsing in the city of York and the sky burning,
this is as close as he gets: "The heaven shall
burn at five and forty degrees, the fire shall come
near the great new city... when they shall make a
trial of the Normans" (Century 6:97). Nostradamus
never even mentioned the words "fortress"
or "big war."
Obviously, people love
the notion of prophecy. Prophet and astrologer Nostradamus
has captivated the imaginations of many generations
through his mysterious predictions that seem to have
a supernatural accuracy.
Nostradamus wrote four-line verses (quatrains) in groups
of 100 (centuries). Nostradamus wrote ten centuries
of prophecies. He completed a total of 942 quatrains
which he organized into Centuries - groups of 100 quatrains
(one Century only had 42 quatrains).
Out of 942 quatrains, only around twenty five correct
predictions he did. That may be a coincidence. Nostradamus
is credited by many people with predicting such things
as the rise of Adolf Hitler, World War II, and even
the assassinations of John and Robert Kennedy. One thing
Nostradamus didn't predict was that he would become
a one-man industry in the 20th century!!
