NOSTRADAMUS

he was the French Christian Jew who lived in France in the 16th century, made many accurate forecasts, including the two World Wars. 18 of his 950 quatrains refer to a third world war. Some Nostradamus experts had given the date for the start of such a war as mid-1999, referring to the Balkan conflict surrounding Kosovo. They obviously misinterpreted the quatrains. Their attention then turned to the 11 September 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York.

NOSTRADAMUS

Born Michel de Notredame on 14 December 1503 in St Remy, France, he was the oldest of five sons. His grandfather, Jean, taught him Latin, Greek, Hebrew, mathematics and astrology at an early age. Nostradamus received a medical degree in 1529 and became physician-in-ordinary to Charles IX during the bubonic plague. He is said to have had extraordinary healing abilities.


Nostradamus
Nostradamus 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.

Nostradamus was married twice, losing his first wife and two children to the plague. He died on 2 July 1566. "Centuries" was translated into English in 1672. In 1781 it was banned by the Roman Catholic Church. Ironically, in 1553, when Nostradamus encountered a group of Franciscan monks he threw himself on his knees, clutching at the garment of one of the monks, Felice Peretti. When asked why he had done this he replied that he must yield "before his Holiness." Nineteen years after the death of Nostradamus, Peretti became Pope Sixtus V.

What the experts say Nostradamus predicted about the Balkan war
The war prophecy is reserved for someone whom Nostradamus refers to as "the tyrant." He predicted that the Slavs will "change their prince" and "raise an army in the mountains," suggesting a guerilla war. He speaks of "when the north pole is united" (perhaps NATO?), and there are many geographical references to the Balkans, such as Greece, Italy and the Mediterranean.

The war is linked to when the "eagle" (United States) and the "cock" (France) stand together. There also is specific reference to the time when England, Poland and Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic and Slovakia) "form a new alliance." The former Eastblock countries recently joined NATO.

He predicted that the Allies will win, that the war will be protracted, lasting seven months, and that it may go beyond the Balkans, toward the north, but that after the war there will be "peace on earth for a long time."


Nicolaas van Rensburg
The forecasts by Nostradamus seemed to be confirmed by other seers, including Nicolaas van Rensburg, the famous South African seer who lived 1862 to 1926. At the turn of the 20th Century Van Rensburg had also predicted the use of electricity, the massacre of six million Jews, the Chernobyl disaster, the rise and fall of Russia, and the European Union - in the last two instances accurately describing the flags before they were designed. Of the third world war, he predicted that England would left weakened, while Germany would rise to become the world's most powerful nation. Further such predictions by the famous American seer Edgar Cacey are available in the book Predictions for the 21st Century

What the experts say Nostradamus predicted about the WTC attack
"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 45 degrees... fire approaches the great new city... there will be thunder... The third big war will begin when the city is burning."
So it is quoted among rumour mongers. The facts are:

Nostradamus appears not to have made predictions about the World Trade Centre attack or, at least, none that could easily be understood from the quatrains. He did not mention "the new century," or "nine months" and New York is not at 45 degrees; the Manhattan latitude is 40° 47' N. For more, see Skeptic's Dictionary

What then?
Of course, not only have the "experts" on the prophets not always been correct - the seers themselves have not always been quite so accurate in their forecasts. In fact, many predictions have missed the mark.

Time will tell if the Kosovo conflict or, indeed, the World Trade Center attack had put the spark to a bigger barrel. As for the end of the world... Nostradamus predicted it to be the year 3786 or 3797, depending on which Nostradamus expert you believe.

Cryptic numerology:
After the WTC attack on 11 September 2001, Uri Geller asked everyone to pray for 11 seconds for those in need. Why?
The first plane to hit the towers was Flight 11 by American Airlines;
Flight 11 had 92 on board: 9 + 2 = 11;
Flight 77 had 65 on board: 6 + 5 = 11;
New York City - 11 Letters;
State of New York - 11th State added to the Union;