Michele de Nostredame (1503 – 1566)<\/p><\/div>\n
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\u00a0 \u201cPrognostications\u201d.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Nostradamus used the word \u201ccentury\u201d 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 \u201ccentury\u201d contained 100 verses.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The verses of \u201cThe Prophecies\u201d \u2013 all 4772 lines of them \u2013 were written in old Provincial French. This was a language that was still very close to its Greek and Latin roots, but was quite different from the French language that is spoken today.<\/p>\n
This is one of the reasons why so many commentators over the years have struggled to interpret his verses. In addition, they were also filled with anagrams, confusing names and other linguistic riddles.<\/p>\n
Nostradamus would also 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.<\/p>\n
Nostradamus used these stratagems deliberately in order to obscure their meaning, and to ensure that they would only be understood after careful analysis and investigation.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
But in spite of the need to disguise his future predictions with obscure language in order to avoid offending the Catholic Inquisition at the time, Nostradamus was unmistakably clear when it came to the comet that would devastate the earth in the last days of the present age.<\/p>\n
The verses that Nostradamus wrote about the comet and the cataclysmic effects it will have upon the earth make gloomy reading. Yet they will undoubtedly become the headlines of tomorrow when the events unfold exactly as he foretold.<\/p>\n
When Nostradamus wrote about the comet in his verses he referred to it in a variety of ways. Among his descriptions were \u201cbearded star\u201d, \u201cgreat star\u201d, \u201cfire from the sky\u201d, trail of sparks\u201d, \u201cburning torch\u201d, “flaming torch”, \u201clong meteor\u201d, and \u201cdart from heaven\u201d.<\/p>\n
He also made frequent references to \u201cfalse dust\u201d, \u201craining blood, milk and stones\u201d, \u201cwater coloured by blood\u201d, \u201cgreat hail\u201d, \u201cred hail\u201d and \u201chail larger than an egg\u201d.<\/p>\n
Because the appearance of the comet and the events that would follow formed such a critical part of earth\u2019s future, Nostradamus composed nearly sixty quatrains about this one event alone. The following verses are some of the examples of what he wrote.<\/p>\n
Century One – Verse 46<\/strong><\/p>\n Very near Auch, Lectoure and Mirande, a great fire will fall from the sky for three nights. The cause will appear stupefying and marvellous: Shortly afterward the ground will tremble.<\/em><\/p>\n Century One – Verse 67<\/strong><\/p>\n 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.<\/em><\/p>\n Century Two – Verse 15<\/strong><\/p>\n Shortly before the monarch is assassinated, Castor and Pollux in the ship, a bearded star: The public treasure devastated by land and sea, Pisa, Asti, Ferrara, Turin under threat.<\/em><\/p>\n Century Two – Verse 18<\/strong><\/p>\n New, unexpected and sudden rain will suddenly halt two armies: From the skies, fire, and a sea of stones, The death of seven suddenly by land and sea.<\/em><\/p>\n Century Two – Verse 41<\/strong><\/p>\n The great star will burn for seven days, the cloud will cause two suns to appear: The large mastiff will howl all night when the great pontiff changes his residence.<\/em><\/p>\n Century Two – Verse 43<\/strong><\/p>\n During the appearance of the bearded star, the three great princes will become enemies: Struck from the sky, peaceful earth quaking, Po, Tiber overflowing, a serpent placed upon the shore.<\/em><\/p>\n Century Two – Verse 46<\/strong><\/p>\n After great misery for humanity, a greater one comes when the great cycle of the centuries is renewed. It will rain blood, milk, famine, war and plague, Fire will be seen in the sky, dragging a trail of sparks.<\/em><\/p>\n Century Two – Verse 62<\/strong><\/p>\n Mabus\u00a0will soon die, then will come a terrible destruction of people and animals: Sudden vengeance will\u00a0 be seen, A hundred hands, thirst, famine, when the comet will pass.<\/em><\/p>\n Century Two – Verse 70<\/strong><\/p>\n The dart from heaven will make its journey, speaking with death; a great execution. The stone in the tree, the proud nation brought down, A human monster, cleansing, the penalty paid.<\/em><\/p>\n Century Two – Verse 81<\/strong><\/p>\n The city is almost destroyed by fire from the sky: The Deucalion flood threatens again: Sardinia is vexed by the Punic fleet, after Phaeton has left Libra.<\/em><\/p>\n Century Two – Verse 91<\/strong><\/p>\n A great fire will be seen at sunrise, noise and light extending towards the north: Death within the earth, one will hear cries, Death awaits them through war, fire and famine.<\/em><\/p>\n Century Two -Verse 92<\/strong><\/p>\n Golden fire will be seen in the sky on earth: Struck from on high, a marvellous accomplishment: Great slaughter for humanity: The nephew of the great one taken, spectacular death, the proud one escapes.<\/em><\/p>\n Century Two – Verse 96<\/strong><\/p>\n A flaming torch will be seen in the sky at night near the end and the source of the Rhone: Famine, war: relief comes too late, Persia turns to invade Macedonia.<\/em><\/p>\n Century Three – Verse 19<\/strong><\/p>\n In Lucca it will rain blood and milk, shortly before a change of leader: Great plague and war, famine and drought will be seen, far from where the prince and ruler dies.<\/em><\/p>\n Century Three – Verse 42<\/strong><\/p>\n A child born with two teeth in his mouth, stones will fall like rain in Tuscany: A few years after no wheat or barley, to satisfy those who faint from hunger.<\/em><\/p>\n Century Four – Verse 67<\/strong><\/p>\n When Saturn and Mars are equally fiery, the air is parched by a long meteor: From hidden fires a great place blazes with burning heat, Little rain, hot winds, wars, invasions.<\/em><\/p>\n Century Five – Verse 62<\/strong><\/p>\n Blood will rain down on the rocks, the Sun in the East, Saturn in the West: War near Orgon, a great evil seen near Rome, ships sunk to the bottom taken by Poseidon.<\/em><\/p>\n Century Five – Verse 90<\/strong><\/p>\n In the Cyclades, Perinthus and Larissa, in Sparta and the entire Pelopennesus: A very great famine, plague through false dust, lasting nine months throughout the whole peninsula.<\/em><\/p>\n Century Five – Verse 98<\/strong><\/p>\n At the forty-eighth degree latitude, at the end of Cancer a very great drought: Fish boiled in the seas, rivers and lakes, B\u00e9arn and Bigorre in distress from fire in the sky.<\/em><\/p>\n Century Six – Verse 5<\/strong><\/p>\n A very great famine caused by pestilence, will extend its length to the arctic pole: Samarobrin one hundred leagues from the hemisphere, They will live without law, free from government.<\/em><\/p>\n Century Six – Verse 6<\/strong><\/p>\n He will appear towards the North, not far from the bearded star in Cancer: Susa, Siena, Boetia, Eretria, The great Roman will die, the night is dispersed.<\/em><\/p>\n Century Six – Verse 38<\/strong><\/p>\n The enemies of peace, the profligate ones, after having conquered Italy: The bloodthirsty king, red will be revealed, Fire, bloodshed, water coloured with blood.<\/em><\/p>\n Century Eight – Verse 2<\/strong><\/p>\n I see Condom, Auch and Mirande, encompassed by fire from the sky. The Sun and Mars joined in Leo, then at Marmande, lightning, great hail, A wall falls into the Garonne.<\/em><\/p>\n Century Eight – Verse 10<\/strong><\/p>\n A great stench will come from Lausanne, but they will not know its source, It will displace people in distant places, Fire in the sky, a foreign nation defeated.<\/em><\/p>\n Century Eight – Verse 77<\/strong><\/p>\n The antichrist swiftly annihilates the three, Twenty-seven years his war will last. The heretics will be dead, captive, exiled; Blood, human bodies, water and red hail covering the earth.<\/em><\/p>\n Century Nine – Verse 83<\/strong><\/p>\n The Sun in twenty degrees of Taurus, a very great earthquake, The great crowded theater will be ruined: Darkness will trouble the sky and the earth, even the faithless will call on God and the saints.<\/em><\/p>\n Century Ten – Verse 60<\/strong><\/p>\n I weep for Nice, Monaco, Pisa, Genoa, Savona, Siena, Capua, Modena and Malta: Blood from on high and the sword for a gift, Fire, earthquake, water, an ill-timed alliance.<\/em><\/p>\n Century Ten – Verse 67<\/strong><\/p>\n A mighty trembling in the month of May, Saturn in Capricorn, Jupiter and Mercury in Taurus: Venus also in Cancer, Mars in Virgo, Then hail will fall larger than an egg.<\/em><\/p>\n The picture painted by Nostradamus of the appearance of the comet and its aftermath on the earth is bleak indeed. Earthquakes that devastate the land; fiery meteorites that bombard the earth setting fire to forests and vegetation; red dust that poisons the drinking water and causes disease.<\/p>\n