Nostradamus

Nostradamus

The world can be a strange place, and people even stranger. Divination or the art of telling the future used to be regarded as an art not revealed to everyone, and taking years of practice and ability to perfect. In fact it was thought of being the work of the devil, so people were rather wary of these soothsayers and wanted to keep them at a distance. However, due to the spilling of some secrets and the vast array of books on the subject; there have in recent times been a number of people who would like nothing more than to be given a chance to read your hand, forehead or use Tarot cards and your last cup of tea to analyze and tell you the future based upon their expertise of the subject. Even the Kings of old had their Royal Astrologers. In terms of true expertise or natural ability on the subject, names like Edgar Cayce, Count Louis Hamon and Jeanne Dixon stand out in recent times. In the 1500's the name of Michel Nostradamus was similarly renowned and revered.

Nostradamus (1503-1566) was a French physician and astrologer who wrote a collection of prophecies called Centuries, which was published in 1555. His family was originally Jewish, but his father converted to Catholicism around the mid-1400s. Nostradamus was one of nine children. He originally started out as a student of medicine, and went into herbal medicine. During the Black Plague that infected all of Europe, he was famous for inventing a rose pill that cured some victims of bubonic plague, encouraged cleanthliness and increased vitamin C intake . Apart from this, Nostradamus also dabbled in astrology and telling the future but was never known to get his client's birth charts in order. He was a seer who had many visions of the times to come. The most famous of these two, both are regarded to be accurate. The first one refers to King Henry II. It goes as follows:

The young lion will overcome the older one,
On the field of combat in a single battle;
He will pierce his eyes through a golden cage,
Two wounds made one, then he dies a cruel death.

The facts are as follows. In June 1559, Henry II put aside all warnings that Nostradamus gave him and took part in a jousting tournament against the Comte de Montgomery. Both of them used shields embossed with lions. At the time, Montgomery was six years younger than Henry. During the final round of fighting in the tournament, Montgomery failed to lower his lance in time. It shattered sending a large splinter through the king's gilded visor (refers to golden cage). The result was two mortal wounds (refers to two wounds made one and then he will die a cruel death.) One splinter spliced the eye; the other impaled his temple just behind the eye, while both of them penetrated his brain. The end result was that Henry lived for ten days in agony, thus fulfilling Nostradamus' prophecy that he would die a cruel death.

The second prophecy regarded his own death and re-burial. In 1700, city officials wanted to move his body to an area behind a more prominent wall of the Church so that vandals would not be tempted to dig him up to find the code to the Quatrains. When the church officials had the tomb open, a quick look inside revealed a thick gold amulet on his skeleton, with the year 1700 on it. When in 1701 during the French Revolution, rebel soldiers from Marseilles broke into the church, in search of treasure, they opened Nostradamus' coffin and desecrated its contents and stole the amulet. One brazen soldier actually used Nostradamus' skull as a drinking goblet. It was thought that drinking wine from his skull would bestow one with psychic powers. But the next morning Royalists ambushed the grave robbers and they opened fire. The soldier that had used Nostradamus' skull to drink from the night before died after being hit in the eye with a bullet from a sniper. Here is the Quatrain that explains this event:

Under the Oak (coffin) lightening strikes in Gienne.
Not far from there (Salon) is hidden the treasure
For after long centuries it is grabed (grabbed)
Found, shall die, eye pierced by a spring (of a trigger).

According to Nostradamus, there will first be peace between the great powers. The United States of America will be at the height of power but the peace will not last for long. Within 13 years, they will surrender to Muslim leaders. They will be undermined by a force in the Middle East or North Africa. For the people that will not agree with the actions of these world leaders, there will be riots and chaos as these powers bring war upon them. There will be in these times a Mongolian or Chinese invasion of the West with Iran as an ally. Out of submarines will emerge men of war, whose fleet will have come from far across the sea to Italian shores.

A plague will destroy two thirds of mankind, leading even to the decimation of the Church. A third World War will commence, involving experimental weaponry and creation of new war machines like the cloning of armies, by manipulating the chromosomes to create murderers without morals. Genghis Khan will be resurrected using this technology and rule both before and after the war. There will be a great earthquake in California, followed by much famine. The three main distresses for the United States will be volcanoes, earthquakes and hurricanes. All these events will result in a great shift of the globe over a period of six months. It is also predicted that the name of the last Pope will be Peter, as was the first, and he will unfortunately see the destruction of the city of Rome, the city of seven hills (Randi, 1993).

Current Events that Parallel his Predictions

Among the current events that parallel his predictions include the events of September 11, 2001 and it is further feared that the Muslim nations shall overtake and sublimate the Western world. George W. Bush supported a Greater Israel and may be part of his reason for the War on Terror was to undermine the strength and unity of the Islamic nations. However the very reverse could happen, if the Islamic world unites to weaken the Western powers.

Let us, instead, take a world view here that is based on unity and peace, not war and dissent. Let us work together to consider the effect of Nostradamus' predictions. If we are to stop World War III, there is a dire need for religious syncretism in the world and the chance to stop the gaps in people's understanding. Christianity, Judaism and Islam all emerged from one place in the Middle East and have many overlapping and similar beliefs. The oneness of God and life after Death are two everlasting similarities. It would in theory be easier to synchronize the common elements in these beliefs. Most of the other religions also have a hierarchical structure where there is one head Deity. Thus there is an ever expanding reason that supports it and many people share the belief that if only we can learn from past events and predictions and take action in all areas of society, the world would be a better place and disaster could be avoided. As Count Louis Hamon once mentioned: The stars impel, they do not compel.

The Earth is a planet floating in space- therefore it can be compared to a space ship. Thankfully as more sedate and conscientious leaders are elected all over the world, there is an increased chance to save planet Earth. Science warns us that we are destroying the chances of life on Earth by pollution and mismanagement that is creating a bigger hole in the ozone layer (Gore, 2006). Former Vice President Al Gore and others are all for giving us ample warning about the impending global warming. On his part American President Obama has promised to switch to alternative fuels that reduce emissions and use electric cars that do not pollute the atmosphere. Solar and wind energy sources seem to be the new focus. They are free, cost effective and renewable energy sources. Everybody wants to reduce their carbon footprint and we should read further on how we can make the Earth a better place to live in for our present and future generations.