The Prophecies of Nostradamus – Part Two

Although the prophetic quatrains written by Nostradamus are frustratingly difficult to understand, especially when the events portrayed in them have not yet occurred, when seen in retrospect, many of his verses have proved 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)

Erika  Cheetham: “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.”

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)

Erika Cheetham: “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)

Erika Cheetham: “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)

Erika Cheetham: “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 powers 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)

Erika Cheetham: “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)

Erika Cheetham: “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)

Erika Cheetham: “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)

Erika Cheetham: “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)

Erika Cheetham: “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)

Erika Cheetham: “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)

Erika Cheetham: “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 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.

Continued in Part Three

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 20th, 2020 at 8:25 am and is filed under Nostradamus: His Life and Prophecies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Comments and pings are closed.