Nostradamus: Philosopher or Foney?

[DurinsBane]

I've heard a lot about how Nostradamus could of predicted worldly events, and I was wondering how the general public of Newgrounds thought about it. Figuring that some people out there know about this supposed philosopher, I thought it would be an interesting topic.

[whitedragon-my]

I haven't read much about him so I can't really give an opinion. But the Histler prophecies were pretty freaky.

[Interface]

well he did say that two sisters will burn and fall on 9/11 or something like that. it makes you think, not too many of the bible's prophecies are fullfilled so much as other people's.

[TheEvilOne]

At 1/31/03 10:11 AM, PuritanicalInterface wrote: well he did say that two sisters will burn and fall on 9/11 or something like that.

That statement turned out to be falsely attributed to Nostradamus. He never said it.

[Interface]

how do you know? i saw a movie on the history channel made in the 90's or something about nostradamus and it mentioned that. :/ oh well

[DurinsBane]

Well the Hister prophecies were of course about Hitler. Before this was realized, though, everyone thought he was just talking about the RIVER Hister. That is still the main argument today against those prophecies. What they don't realize is that the river Hister is where Hitler grew up and where he fantasized about the things he would do when he was older. So, yes, freaky. Now the 9/11 prophecies. Recently on some website, some university students posted what they said was one of Nostradamus' prophecies on 9/11. The writing obviously stated the events that occured. With a little research though, it was found that it was the university students who wrote it to make it look like Nostradamus wrote it. Just a sham to freak some people out. Now, in his true prophecies, it IS found that there is a verse prophecizing 9/11. The writing is a bit more vague though. So it is thought that the university students just re-wrote it to make it look more obvious. More freakyness.

[Billism]

Its easy to be a psychic. Just say something broad that will most certainly happen.

[DurinsBane]

Okay, I agree, but Nostradamus never claimed to be a psychic. He was an astrologer who studied the skies, the Bible, and many other ancient texts. He also supposedly had visions on which he based his prophecies upon.

[clownfish]

There have also been countless predictions the world would end in the year 2000. Ironically, some people were actually so freaked out by it, they stacked up food and spent all of New Year in their basement... People are just too guillible. I mean, if someone makes about a thousand prophecies, and one of them exactly hits the spot, everyone finds it miraculous, while no one looks at all the other prophecies he made, and were wrong. It's all in the human psyche. Like when people wake up with the feeling they will meet their true love that day: They can have that feeling a thousand times over, but if nothing happens, they'll forget about it. Then if it really happens ONCE, they will find it very strange they had that feeling and will go around telling everyone they have the ability of precognition.

[DurinsBane]

True, but not only one of his prophecies came true. He predicted the King's death, the guiatine, the French revelution, Napoleon's reign and fall, the coming of Hitler and his concentration camps, the 1666 burning in Europe, JFK's assassination, 9/11, and other things that have now been realized. It's just his poetic writing is so vague, usually the event has to occur before it is recognized. That's why a lot of people don't believe in him. It has also woken up alot of people who are now trying to decipher the meanings of future verses.

[clownfish]

Those verses are more than vague, they are so global they apply on too many things. And if I were to predict the fall of a great Empire, I would probably also be proven right, if I would wait long enough. Just a question, when exactly did Nostradamus live?

[DrNatchKilder]

I think he lived in the 1600s, although i'm not sure.

What i want to say is, as it has been said, that people understand his profecies after the events had happened. I remeber he said: " And the two sisters will fall covered in flames". You can take it as a lot of things (a royal family, two mountains, etc)

[DrNatchKilder]

My mistake. He was born in 1503 and lived a few years.

Go to

http://www.activemind.com/Mysterious/Topics/Nostradamus

[DurinsBane]

Yes, he was vague, but for a reason. If he were to come out and say everything openly, he would of been thought a blasphemer and killed. So, on the first page he wrote a letter to his son saying that what he was about to write would be prophecies and predictions and that he hoped they could be used to prevent them from happening. He also said that it would seem that his writings would be non-sensical but if you looked carefully, you would understand. There is more evidence in his prophecies than just a few notions, the 9/11 predictions for example, he also wrote that doom would come at 45 degrees, which is the angle that the planes hit the Trade Centre. He also described the way that they burned, saying that it was liquid, sulfuric fire that fell beneath the couldron of the earth.

[clownfish]

I think it was already stated in this topic that the 9/11 prophecies weren't made by Nostradamus, but by some students who wanted to freak people out. And yes, he would probably be considered a heathen and burned, but how do you know he wasn't using the situation to make his prophecies more probable?

[DrNatchKilder]

At 1/31/03 04:38 PM, clownfish wrote: I think it was already stated in this topic that the 9/11 prophecies weren't made by Nostradamus, but by some students who wanted to freak people out.

He wrote something about them, but the students changed them

And yes, he would probably be considered a heathen and burned, but how do you know he wasn't using the situation to make his prophecies more probable?

That's a good point to discuss

It's also said that he predicted his own death. Is this true? If he predicted his own death, why didn't he avoid it?

[whitedragon-my]

I think the only thing he actually wrote that can be applied to 9/11 was this.

"The sky will burn at nintey-eight degrees, darkness approaches the new city"

He mentions the city in several other writings and a lot of people think it refers to NYC. I also believe that New York is somewhere around 91 degrees latitude (or longitude I always get those confused).

[semaGdniM]

Nostradamus is very vague so he may be talking about things that happened 400 yrs ago and we just never found out about it. I mean he did look at the skies like was previoulsy stated, but he was caught up in the fact that he had incredible spiritual abilities sort of like a psychic basically. He would take some type of drug and just stare at a bowl of water until images appeared and those were some of his prophecies. Some of these could just be high illusions.

[DurinsBane]

Actually, the doom came to the new city at 45 degrees, that was the angle the planes hit at. How do we know he wasn't using the situation to his advantage? Well probly because some came true during his life. The King of France at the time (I forget which Louie it was) died in a jousting match which he fortold. he had connections with the Queen too and afterwards she questioned him about it. Now I suppose that the using drugs assumption seems realistic, as he was as well an apothecary and had access to chemicals and primitive medicines. The only flaw is how accurately most things fit, like he made predictions about "half pig men battling in the sky" and you would say this is nuts, but in World War II when pilots wore oxygen masks, they looked kind of like pigs. That was the closest way he could describe what he saw but it still fits. Along with everything else, it is hard to believe that they were just petty halucinations. I can't really explain why he didn't avoid his own death. Perhaps he felt his purpose was complete or there was no way to avoid it.

[TheloniousMONK]

All the prophecy crap that people try to fit the 9/11 stuff into is purely fabricated.

http://www.snopes2.com/rumors/predict.htm

That link explains it all very well and gives good history.

[karasz]

Although I am a fan of nostradamus i must say that he did have opium halluncinations while writing the quantraints...

OR you believe the first wave scenario which involves the aliens coming to take over the world and the world they are coming from was nostradamuses home.

[DurinsBane]

I never heard of anything about him being an alien. I don't really see how he could of had hallucinations either that fit so well with worldly events.