I AM a middle-aged post-graduate educated man, a sceptic and a realist with a huge back catalogue of real life experiences… my writing reveals that I only deal in hard fought facts.
But certain events in my life have led me to believe that there are many things in this universe which are still hidden from us.
If you are unsure what I mean then please read two of my blogs from 2013: There’s no exit in any direction… except the one that you can’t see with your eyes https://seagullnic.wordpress.com/2013/10/21/theres-no-exit-in-any-direction-except-the-one-that-you-cant-see-with-your-eyes/ and Something is Happening, But You Don’t Know What It Is https://seagullnic.wordpress.com/2013/11/02/something-is-happening-but-you-dont-know-what-it-is/
There is a personal juxtaposition of finding faith in something powerful and unseen, to reasoning that same faith away with the science of reason.
But reason doesn’t come into what I am now about to write.
Following Monday’s shooting down of a Russian jet by a Turkish warplane on the Turkey/ Syria border, there is a growing feeling that the powder keg which until now was a Middle East conflict could erupt into something much bigger.
On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin held an emergency cabinet meeting in the Kremlin to evaluate the implications of the downing of the Russian Su-24.
“Today they practically declared war on us by shooting down our fighter jet. Our patience wears thin with Erdogan and his criminal clique who is accomplice in all atrocities committed by ISIS terrorists,” said Mr Putin.
“To avoid a bitter war which nobody craves, for several times, I told Americans to muzzle their rabid dog in Turkey,” he added, vowing that the ‘revenge’ is what the Turkish dictator will receive in return.
His tone is alarming, especially as Turkey is a member of NATO and thereby protected by other NATO powers, including the USA, France and the UK.
Matters were exacerbated late last night with the news that China will join Russia in the bombing of ISIS – it already has an aircraft carrier stationed nearby.
There is now a feeling that we could be as close to a world war as we were in the early 1980s.
It is now I ask readers to take a leap of faith before they read on.
Way back in 1973, while I was still at school, a song by Al Stewart made me aware of 16th century French Renaissance seer Nostradamus.
Al’s song Nostradamus is mesmerising and timeless and led me to find out more this strange man from half a millennia ago.
Michel de Nostredame was a mystic, best known for his quatrains which are considered by today’s mystics as astounding prophecies.
Nostradamus completed 942 quatrains which he organised into Centuries – groups of 100 quatrains. A quatrain is simply a poem with four lines. They were written mainly in French with a bit of Italian, Greek, and Latin thrown in.
He intentionally obscured the quatrains through the use of symbolism and metaphor, as well as by making changes to proper names by swapping, adding or removing letters, to avoid being tried as a magician or witch.
So as an open-minded teenager I rushed out to buy a book recommended by Al Stewart, called The Prophecies of Nostradamus, translated and edited by Erika Cheetham. That now yellowing tome sits beside me as I type this blog.
Most of Nostradamus’s quatrains deal with disasters, such as plagues, earthquakes, wars, floods, invasions, murders, droughts, and battles.
A major, underlying theme is an impending invasion of Europe by Muslim forces from farther east and south headed by the so-called Third Antichrist, directly reflecting the 16th century Ottoman invasions and the earlier Saracen equivalents.
All of this is presented in the context of the imminent end of the world.
Nostradamus has been credited, for the most part in hindsight, with predicting numerous events in world history, from the Great Fire of London, and the rise of Napoleon and Adolf Hitler, to the 11 September attacks on the World Trade Centre.
Let’s look at some of Al Stewart’s own words to see how he and I both translated Nostradamus’ quatrains back in 1973:
A king shall fall and put to death by the English parliament shall be (a direct reference to the execution of Charles 1 in 1649)
Fire and plague to London come in the year of six and twenties three (1665-66)
An emperor of France shall rise who will be born near Italy
His rule cost his empire dear, Napoloron his name shall be (referencing Napoleon Bonaparte 1769-1821)
From Castile does Franco come and the Government driven out shall be (General Franco 1892-1975)
An English king seeks divorce, and from his throne cast down is he (Edward VIII 1894-1972)
One named Hister shall become a captain of Greater Germanie
No law does this man observe and bloody his rise and fall shall be (Clearly Adolf Hitler 1889-1945)
In the new lands of America three brothers now shall come to power
Two alone are born to rule but all must die before their hour (Edward, John and Robert Kennedy?)
Two great men yet brothers not make the north united stand
Its power be seen to grow, and fear possess the eastern lands (could this be the alliance between Barrack Obama and President Putin or even Obama and Cameron or Hollande?)
Three leagues from the gates of Rome a Pope named Pol is doomed to die (the last Pope named Paul (Pol?) was Pope John Paul II, who also happened to be Polish (Pol?) and died in 2005)
A great wall that divides a city at this time is cast aside (Bearing in mind this interpretation was made in 1973, I have long assumed this to be the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. But it may foretell the fall of the Apartheid wall in Israel which keeps Jews and Muslims apart.)
These are the signs I bring to you to show you when the time is nigh
Many researchers of Nostradamus, who died in 1566, are now convinced he correctly foretold the barbaric acts being committed by ISIS in the Middle East, including its declared bid to capture areas of Europe to fulfil its Caliphate.
One website – Nostradamus 2242 – claims World War 3 will begin this year as a result of the struggle with ISIS and the world could end in 2242 – some 27 years from now.
The website lists a four-verse quatrain from which it is claimed warns of the unfolding events in Iraq and Syria.
It said Nostradamus had been translated as saying: “He will enter wicked, unpleasant, infamous, tyrannizing over Mesopotamia.
“All friends made by the adulterous lady, land dreadful and black of aspect.”
The website says: “An amazing quatrain about Iraq’s ordeal and tyranny in the ongoing sectarian violence, particularly on the aftermath of the 2003 US invasion, the surging of Al-Qaeda and the organisation of ISIS.
“ISIS’ target is Mesopotamia, present day Iraq. ISIS is also the most wealthy terrorist organization in the world, thanks to its numerous contributors.”
Many are speculating whether ISIS would start the next world war, and whether its leader is the Antichrist that Nostradamus warned against.
Nostradamus researchers had already identified the likes of Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden as being the third and final anti-Christ. Or could it be closer to home: Barrack Obama, or, heaven help us, Donald Trump?
This problem with dates has led some Nostradamus researchers to conclude we are already in a World War 3, which started in 1999 (the year of the ill-fated Israel/Palestine Peace Accord), and should therefore come to an horrific conclusion, “probably involving nuclear weapons”, in 2026.
Reports suggest ISIS has managed to obtain 40kg of uranium from the University of al-Mosul when it occupied the Iraq city, and have declared wanting to take over Spain, Greece and most of the Balkans.
There is mention of Russia in the Nostradamus verses and some have linked ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as suspect number one for being the Third Antichrist (Napoleon and Hitler being the first two).
Author and researcher John Hogue, described as “a world authority on Nostradamus and the prophetic traditions of the world” believes Nostradamus did predict ISIS and the US interventions in Iraq.
He said: “Let’s fast “foreword” back to that future foreseen four-and-a half centuries ago, when Nostradamus predicted a modern “crusader” army would occupy Mesopotamia (Iraq) and then foretold the outcome.
“Century 3, Quatrain 61 of Les Propheties (The Prophecies) reads: “The great host and sect of cross bearers [crusaders], Will be massed in Mesopotamia [Iraq].
“Of the nearby river [the Euphrates] the fast company, that such a law will hold for the enemy.”
He added: “Nostradamus’ quatrains are clearer as we draw close to the events and details cloaked in their codes and riddles.
“Nostradamians during the Saddam Hussein era made a mistake I often exposed. They incorrectly defined who line one’s “He” was as being Saddam Hussein.”
In any case, Mabus does not see the disastrous end of the new world war, because he is killed at the beginning.
Nostradamus predicts the war of the Third Antichrist will be the longest of the three.
Napoleon’s war, as Nostradamus accurately predicted lasted 14 years (1799–1814), followed by another famous time prediction for Napoleon’s escape from exile on Elba in 1815 to lead France for a 100 days until his final defeat at Waterloo.
Nostradamus did not tag a specific length to Hitler’s war but he left powerful clues accurately framing the war in time. In his Epistle prophecies he earmarked the years 1937, 1941 and 1945 as the beginning, middle and end of the conflict.
He was slightly off on the start – it was 1939 – but 1941 did see the turning of the tide with the Second Antichrist’s disastrous invasion of Russia, started on the same day of the 129 year anniversary of the First Antichrist’s invasion, no less. Hitler’s war did end in 1945.
In a passage written in 1558 about the three Antichrists in his Epistle to Henry II, Nostradamus said the following: “Finally the third [Antichrist] will cause an inundation of human blood, and one will not find Mars [the God of War] fasting for a long time… After that, the Antichrist will be the infernal prince again for the (third and) last time.”
Mabus soon dies when a comet will pass.
John Hogue claims the time-frame reduces the “Mabus” comet candidates to three: Comet Hyakutake in 1996, Hale-Bopp in 1997 and the brightest and most dramatic of them all, the sudden flare up of Comet McNaught in mid-January 2007.
“For 20 years I have declared Saddam Hussein to be my personal choice as the man who would be Nostradamus’ Mabus,” says John Hogue.
“In brief, for the uninitiated, the reason being that the law of anagram allows one to reverse in lower case the name “mabus” into “subam.” You can reverse again any letters, such as getting “d” out of “b” and get “sudam.” Phonetics play in the rules. If a similar vowel can be derived, for instance changing “u” to the long, Arabic “a”–sounding like “uhh” or “awh”= (Suh’dam, Sawh’dam) you get “Sadam.” In anagramming, you can add or subtract redundant letters. In this case, add a “d” and you get: “Saddam.”
Saddam Hussein was executed by hanging at dawn of 30 December (Iraqi Time) 2006.
Roughly a week later, Comet McNaught passing close to the sun, suddenly and unexpectedly began bursting into a brightness that by the middle of January 2007 competed with the sunset’s afterglow. The comet core and tail rivalled the brightness of the planet Venus.
It is now highly likely that Saddam is Nostradamus’ Mabus and McNaught is the comet running at the end of the Mabus prophecy.
What then follows is expressed in a Renaissance French euphemism: horrible defaite–in other words, the most terrible undoing imaginable, a destruction and mass killing that spares neither animals nor people.
Already the war in Syria and Iraq and rumours of war planned by the US and Israel (both nuclear states) against Iran has led to leaks suggesting that both have considered factoring in weapons of mass destruction powerful enough to bore into subterranean Iranian nuclear facilities.
Israeli and US sources have already drawn up plans for hypothetical air strikes on Iranian nuclear installations with tactical nuclear weapons.
Iran in turn has threatened to use any weapons it possesses in a counterstrike including regional ballistic missiles possibly tipped with chemical or biological weapons falling from the sky on US bases in Iraq, the Gulf States and Israeli cities.
Nostradamus warns of much worse to come in the new war.
“All the Kingdoms of Christianity, and even those of the infidels [Muslims], will tremble for the space of 25 years… so many evils shall be committed by the means of, Satan, the infernal Prince, that almost the entire world will be found undone and desolate.”
Another Nostradamus researcher Ted Montgomery is more graphic in his interpretation of the Prophecies: “During World War 3 there will be massive naval, air, and land battles. The ultra-secret weapons that are brought forth will shock and stun the world.
“The Antichrist will not hesitate to use bacteriological warfare, as well as conventional warfare, causing hunger, fire and plagues. The causative organisms will be more virulent than ever before and, hence, increasingly lethal.
“When the Antichrist is taking over Europe, nuclear weapons will wreak havoc like lightning strikes, and from them a “milky rain” will occur. Weapons currently beyond our imagination will wreak unparalleled devastation. Corpses will litter the landscape. The very earth will “cry out in pain.”
“The Antichrist will be so terrible, horrible, and powerful that the rightful rulers of countries will be utterly terrified and will not do anything to stop his ravages. Entire dynasties will be wiped out.
“A major nuclear confrontation will occur in the Middle East. The aggressor will have broken a promise not to use nuclear weapons in warfare. Naval fleets kept in the area by other powers will be scattered in ruins from the violence of the blast.
“Radioactive fallout will have adverse effects on people, animals, and weather; and erupting volcanoes will turn the water of that part of the ocean a muddy red colour. Because of this, bodies will appear to float in blood. Because of the blasts and earth changes, rivers will change their course, and political boundary lines based on them will be redrawn.
“The US will have a Democratic president at the time. He will get involved with the conflict as a way of trying to stimulate the economy from a depression.”
But sceptics of Nostradamus argue with so much conflict in the Middle East it is easy to link any one of them to the verses and when looked at together then don’t add up with today’s ISIS events or earlier ones.
According to some Nostradamus researchers, he explained a “King of Terror”, wearing a blue turban, would rise to power from Greater Arabia during the late 1990s, wage war around the world.
They interpret him saying the “King of Terror” would form an alliance with Russia to wage war on the US and Europe, starting with a nuclear strike on New York City.
Is this where reality and the supernatural really meet?
Time will tell.
No Time to Think 
There is great danger in interpretations of this incredible work. I first came to the works of Micheal of Nostrodame in the mid seventies and read the book of centuries translations in various forms. One Quatrain seemed to predict Gorbachov and perestroika in soviet russia. I agree that this work is still worth studying, but with great care to avoid believing any conclusions on the predictions in the book of centuries. without the mind of nostrodamus to help us we could cause much confusion. I don’t subscribe to a determined future as this form of fatalism can lead to many avoidable conflicts. the possibility of prediction can be seen in a form of probable outcomes, reasoned from a great understanding of human nature and historical conflicts. I feel that Micheal of nostodame was an incredible author of one of the most intriguing and mysterious books ever written. it is worth finding books written about his life as these can expand an understanding of the works. there seems to be extant a copy of a letter from Catherine de Medici where she descibes his methods of Divination, from what i remember it sounded like he invented a receiving device that could pick up TV transmissions from the future, but that would make life predetermined and could be a disaster for most people to accept,