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When one accepts the principle that he did see parts of the future, it becomes evident that there was another major problem. His visions may have included an auditory component, so he could hear what was said, but he would still have to refer it to the world he knew and lived in. Now, some names, like Franco, he could recognize – Franco is an old Spanish name, doubtless there were Franco’s whom Nostradamus knew and took care of in his capacity as a Doctor of Physique. He was, after all, not too far from Spain and likely there were Spanish traders and diplomats whom came by seeking out his services. Ferdinand and Villars, like Franco, were names that were known to Nostradamus. But how many Hitler’s were there? It is a name that only came into existence with Alois Hitler, the father of Adolf. Would Nostradamus know how to spell the name he most likely heard only in his prophetic vision, a name that had no representative during his life?
And think about things he saw, maybe heard, but had no terms for the things we have today. For instance, tanks: To us, a tank is an armored war vehicle of great speed and destructive power with a large powerful gun. To Nostradamus, a tank was nothing more than a large metal container designed to hold liquid. Suppose he had heard through his vision some soldiers talking about tanks. Then suppose his vision showed him a tank rumbling across Western France. Would he put the term and the vision together and realize what the name of that device was? Let’s see now; a large metal container designed to hold liquid is now moving about firing on buildings and people. Maybe it is a tank of explosive liquid, sent to blow up a large number of enemies. Does that sound like tanks we know? Obviously, Nostradamus would most likely not have the means to make the connection.
This would be even truer when he saw things for which there were absolutely no words in his day he could use. At least there were tanks in Nostradamus’s day, though they were of a completely different purpose and function from the military one of we know. But what about these words: helicopters, balloons, aircraft, jets, space stations, nuclear weapons and submarines? You and I hear these words and know what they mean. We see individual objects, we can name them. But would Nostradamus, seeing them through the eyes of one who has only the knowledge of sixteenth century physics and medicine, have the same ability? Would this knowledge and understanding allow him to make the connections? Perhaps, but as a man trained in the scientific method of his time, he would have reason to doubt the accuracy of his connections.
For this reason he did not even try to get every name right. Instead of even trying to get the name right, he used the terminology and language of his day to paint picturesque similes, verbal pictures which caught the essence of what his vision told him. For instance, a plague of locusts can be a very apt description of a fleet of hundreds of aircraft flying overhead, the droning of their motors sounding very much like the droning wings of locusts. And a fish that swims underwater, do not submarines do likewise? Are their shapes not roughly similarly and would this not be a good description of a submarine, an object that is roughly fishlike and designed to move underwater? And what about rockets, do they not fly with fiery tails? Would not Nostradamus use the fiery tail to describe the rockets in their flight? Think about the space station: in shape and appearance they bear a rough similarity to a winged seed pod, the solar panels bearing a rough similarity to the wings of a winged seed pod while the living and breathing quarters could be described as the pod. In all these cases, he would use terms he was familiar with, terms he could accurately spell, to describe, in simile, what he saw.
It is definite that he did give a few names. But he kept it to individuals, using names that he knew and was familiar with, names like Franco, Ferdinand and Rouseau. For instance, in the sixteenth quatrain of the ninth century he gives us a literal name: Franco, the prime participant in the Spanish Civil War that he won. And read the thirty-fifth quatrain of the ninth century for a Ferdinand who was also literally named. But if he knew the pronunciation of a name he did not know how to spell, he kept it to a phonetic version of the name, using words to give us the name not as they were literally spelled but by how the name was pronounced. Almost certainly he gave us the name of Montgolfier using this method: by using the words of his day in a phonetic way, he tried to give us names not as they were but as they were pronounced; a phonetic description of a name. Another likely example of this is Pasteur, in the 25th quatrain of the first century. It is unlikely that Nostradamus knew anyone called Pasteur, but he did know the words for shepherd, one of which was pasteur. The name Pasteur in this quatrain was likely a phonetic word that just happened to be the correct spelling of Louis Pasteur’s actual name. So it was blind luck that Nostradamus spelled Pasteur’s name correctly. Of course, there is no doubt that Nostradamus was right on target in the second Presage – the Heroic Villars of the fourth line can only refer to Duc Claude Louis Hector de Villars, the Marshal General of France and the French hero of the War of the Spanish Succession. But then, it is certain that Nostradamus knew a Vilars or two.
But in keeping with the principle of a puzzle, one that had to endure past his life, Nostradamus went to certain lengths. Instead of saying literal names and dates, he used specific terms to describe people and places. But what is surprising is that instead of creating terms out of the blue, he used terms that we, in his future, would come up with and utilize ourselves.
Take for example, the Wolf. Commentators have used the names of places Hitler built, places like the “Wolf’s Lair” to prove that the wolf refers to Hitler, then pat themselves on the back for deciphering this. But what most do not know is that it not only refers to Hitler, it is the meaning of his first name. The name Adolf means Noble Wolf! If you doubt me, you can look it up. The “secret code” here was that he used the meaning of Hitler’s own first name to represent the man. Adolf Hitler certainly knew the meaning of his name. He built many places for himself, places all with the word wolf in their name. The people understood that the Wolf’s Lair was Adolf’s Lair. Commentators, not knowing the meaning of the name Adolf, would use such places like the Wolf’s Lair to connect the quatrain to Hitler and Nazi Germany, little realizing that Nostradamus was merely using what anyone in the 20th Century could have figured out, what many Germans did know.
As for the Bear, did we not claim that the Soviet nation was represented by the Bear? Did not the Soviets claim that their symbol was the Bear? Do we not now claim that the Russian nation, the successor of the Soviet nation, is represented by the Bear? The Russian people came up with the Bear to represent themselves. Can we blame the prophet for using the people’s own chosen symbol?
With this in mind, lets take this famous line from one of the quatrains, the last line of the fourth quatrain of the fifth century:
The Wolf and the Bear will defy each other.
Commentators normally agree that this refers to Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union preparing to start the bloody eastern front during the Second World War. They point to lines like this in the quatrains to indicate how difficult it is to interpret Nostradamus. They pat themselves on the back for having figured out what he meant at least in this instance. However, it is quite an obvious line, using meaning that we know and understand.
But with what we know today, the line is written in in a very apparent language. Nostradamus used the meaning of Adolf, which means Noble Wolf and the symbol of Russia, i.e. USSR, the Bear in this line. Literally interpreted, it means: Adolf and the Soviets will defy each other.
But what about the line before, the line that could only refer to Poland?
After having chassed the stag from the fields,
Does the stag refer to Poland? Is there any direct connection between the Stag and Poland? Do the Poles or the polish nation refer to itself by the stag? Obviously not! However, when you take both lines in context: After having chassed the stag from the fields, the wolf and the bear will defy each other, it becomes quite apparent what is happening. The wolf and the bear are named by Adolf Hitler and the USSR, using the meaning of Adolf's name and the symbol of the USSR, a fact that Nostradamus caught onto and used. After having chased the stag from the fields, Adolf and the Soviets will defy each other! But he used the animal forms that we can understand only on the fourth line; he does not do this on the third line. To resolve this, a clue is provided by the simile he paints. What do wolves and bears have in common? They hunt prey! Of great note is the fact that the stag is a primary prey of the wolf. Since Adolph is the wolf and the Soviet Union is the bear, what was the prey of Adolf and the Soviets, a prey that would be a prime target especially of Adolf? Is it not obvious that Poland was that prey? And did not Adolf Hitler focus on Poland and Russia simply join in to advance its frontier? Yet it happened exactly that way!
From this, it becomes apparent that he not only used words we ourselves understand, he also sometimes painted picturesque phrases to impart his meaning about events. The wolf and the bear were words we can understand. The stag Nostradamus gave to Poland, but only because of what the Wolf (Adolf) and the Bear (Soviets) would do to it – Prey on it! The simile perfectly described what actually happened:
After having chassed Poland from the international field,
Adolf and the Soviets will defy each other.
The whole quatrain deals with the opening salvos of the Second World War with the last two lines painting a picturesque simile of what happened. After Hitler and Stalin divided up Poland, the Polish leadership fled to Britain where they were relatively safe. But after that, Hitler and the Soviets started to irritate each other more and more. It finally erupted into open warfare.
Take also, for example, this quatrain, the twenty third quatrain of the first century:
This quatrain uses terms that Napoléon Bonaparte used. The Eagle refers to the French because Napoléon established the Imperial Eagle as the standard of the French. The Leopard is the British because Napoléon was convinced that the British heraldic lions were leopards – this tells us not only which nation it is, but when it had to have occurred. In the quatrain it can only refer to the leader of the British forces, Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington. As for the boar, that can only refer to Field Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher. Blücher was not the most capable general, nor was he the most skilled; but Napoléon feared him the most because Blücher would not quit. He kept coming on, coming on, coming on, like a boar that does not know when to stop. Napoléon himself called Blücher the Boar for that very reason. Keeping in mind that at Waterloo Napoléon attacked from the south about noontime, it is obvious that at the time the battle started Wellington, the British commander, would see the imperial eagle standards flapping with the sun directly behind and above them. Add in the fact that the battle occurred on the 90th day of Napoléon’s second reign, just before the equivalent of three full months which would be 91 or 92 days, and the quatrain is completely descriptive:
Note to detractors: For those of you who claim that this could refer to any other incident, I defy you to come up with one event that this quatrain does describe. I have given one example that perfectly fits what Nostradamus wrote. If you are a detractor and you wish to claim that this quatrain could refer to any event, present the evidence. Present an event that this quatrain does describe. Do not be vague about it. Waterloo is a very specific event. Describe another specific event - if you can. And remember, the details are important and can make or break your claim. Yes, I challenge you to do exactly that and to make sure that it is as well described as the events around Waterloo.
References to bodily parts may be a bit more convoluted. But at least the meaning of arms is obvious: martial arms – weapons. Weapons are called arms because from the Middle Ages, the weapon of a knight was supposed to be an extension of his arm. As for the other bodily parts, I remember reading a commentator who claimed that legs, feet, hands and head had definite meanings, all meanings that refer to actions that can be understood by simple reference to the bodily parts, for instance the head (of an army or organization). While I personally do not know what all these meanings are supposed to be in all cases, I agree with this analysis.
There were also certain names Nostradamus gave which definitely had no reference to any individual. Take, for instance, Venus. Depending on the quatrain, it could be an astrological reference, the planet Venus in an aspect with another planet or in a certain sign in a birth or event chart. It could also refer to areas that the ancient Greco-Roman goddess, Venus, ruled: Pleasure, girlish babble, heterosexual lust and desire for beauty.
The sun can stand for monarchy, specifically the French monarchy. Of course, this is obvious when one remembers that the French considered their monarchy to be represented by the sun itself. It may also stand for Christianity, the religion that Jesus commanded should be revealed in the light of the sun. The moon can stand for Islam, the religion that bears as its standard the crescent moon, a symbol the Muslim people themselves took.
The only term that I know of using a definition that people did not come up with was the moon representing republics. Since the sun represents the monarchy, the moon, the opposite luminary, represents the republic.
It must be noted that often Nostradamus used male terms to represent monarchies and female terms to represent republics (not democracies, for the British government, a democracy, is also a monarchy). This was an expression of the laws and customs that France honored or would honor - laws that Nostradamus knew either directly or through his vision. Regarding the monarchy, the source is quite obvious: Nostradamus knew from personal experience that the Salic Law demanded that no woman can rule the land of France as a ruling queen; France can only have kings; out of respect for this, the male tends to represent monarchies. As for the republics being represented by women, the French are the source, though Nostradamus could know it only by the use of his prophetic vision. During the French Revolution, the French came up with their national, if unofficial, symbol for the Republic – Marianne, the famous female symbol that has unofficially represented the various French Republics for several hundred years. So males tend to represent monarchies and females represent republics. However, it must be pointed out that while Nostradamus tended to use this symbolism, he was not bound to it, preferring to go by the effects that monarchies and republics tend to have – efficiency and inefficiency. This he would use with telling force in the Epistle to Henri.
Sometimes he would create words with deliberate intent as a description of what he was trying to get across. As an example, let us examine the Hister quatrains. Many interpreters have long interpreted it to refer to the Ister River, which is now called the Danube River. Yet every single Hister quatrain can be interpreted as Hitler with complete agreement to the quatrain and the events of Hitler’s life. So it definitely refers to Hitler and not the Danube River. But what makes it interesting is a little appreciated fact about Hitler’s life. He was born in Braunau am Inn, a village near the Danube River. He lived a few years in Passau, Bavaria, right on the Danube River. He was raised in Linz, Lambach, and Leonding, all near the Danube River. He spent his early adulthood in Vienna; we know what famous river flows through that city. Hitler spent the first twenty five years of his life in places defined by the Danube River. And even after he returned from the Western Front after the Great War ended, he returned to Bavaria, take a guess what river flows through that German state. In fact, he joined and became leader of the Nazi party in Munich, a city not far from the Danube. In fact, it can be said that Hitler lived most of his life near or by the Danube River. While he was Chancelor his heart yearned for Bavaria; I hope you know the name of the river that flows through that state! In recognition of this fact, Nostradamus made a descriptive word by simply placing an H (for Hitler) in front of the name of the river, Ister; in doing so he reflected on the importance that river had in Adolf’s life and feelings. This was a creative, descriptive word, for it described a little understood or appreciated fact concerning Adolf Hitler.
Would he know such facts about everyone he saw? I would doubt it. Still, sometimes he did see such facts. He would therefore get creative in his descriptions. But more often the description would be of a physical nature. For instance, the Aenobarb quatrains, commonly translated as “bronze beard”. I am certain this is talking about someone in the future, someone who will have a bronze colored beard.
There are also times when he used anagrams. Anagrams were popular in the time of Nostradamus, to say that he would not resort to this clever expedient is to deceive oneself. To make an anagram, all one has to do is to take a word and mix up the letters. Simply unscramble the letters and the meaning of the word is apparent. For instance, take the following anagram I created: Facsran Cosin. When you unscramble the letters in the correct way, the name of the city is quite apparent: San Francisco. Nostradamus used the anagrammatic principle several times. Sometimes the anagram would be literal, sometimes phonetic, but it was always rearrangement of the letters or sounds was necessary to get the correct word.
There are some commentators that claim that one can replace one or two letters in an anagram. If this is the case, then words like Hister could be converted to Hitler by replacing the s with an l and then rearranging the result, Hilter with the accurate name, Hitler. Admittedly, it can work, but I have my reasons to doubt this, it can lead to too many possibilities. While possible, I consider it unlikely, except maybe in rare instances.
However, in Hitler’s case, it was completely unnecessary. Hister is not an anagram, instead it was a descriptive word that Nostradamus created, a word by which he added an H to the early name of the Danube River, the Ister River. When one learns about Hitler’s early years, one is struck by how important the Danube River was in the life of young Adolf. To repeat what I have already stated: he was born near the Danube River. He grew up in various locations, all near the Danube River. His favorite place was Bavaria, the Danube River flows through that state. Finally, he spent his early adulthood in Vienna, the city of the famous Blue Danube. He became the leader of the Nazi Party near the Danube River. And he only left the Danube River when he became the Chancellor of Germany but even then his heart yearned for Bavaria, near the Danube River. From this, it is obvious that Nostradamus was indicating the Man whose name begins with the letter H and whose life was defined in a broad way by the Danube (Istar) River.
If there is any doubt, it is laid to rest by the 68th Quatrain of the Fifth Century. Nostradamus literally spells out Danube River, not the old name of Istar or the version he used Histar. The fact that this specific quatrain cannot possibly be tied to Hitler is further proof that at least in this case Nostradamus knew what he was doing.
One last thing to note. Nostradamus capitalized every letter in some words throughout the quatrains. I am convinced that whenever Nostradamus capitalized every letter of a word it indicates a quatrain of key importance. Of course, the interpretation of the word can be difficult. The letters may have been rearranged or reversed via the anagrammatic principle, or the meaning of the word will have to be taken in a different way. But what is important is that these are quatrains that Nostradamus considers to be critical.