Nostradamus

It is probably prophetic that Nostradamus was born in December, because that is the month all the pundits come out withe their predictions for the coming year. Michel de Notredame was and is famous for his predictions, even though many change with the reader. He was born 1503 in St. Remy, France. He is the author of ten books of prophecies, titled Centuries that many still believe foretell the future. He was also a physician, astrologer and, clairvoyant.

His famous astrological predictions were written in rhyming quatrains (four-line poems) that many believe predicted the Great London Fire in 1666, Spain’s Civil War, a Hitler who would lead Germany into war, and predicted his own death on July 2, 1566.

He wrote in code, because in those days, if he was found out, he would have been considered a sorcerer and probably burned at the stake. He used symbolism, metaphors, and added and deleted letters to make his writings even more obscure. Most were written in French and some in Italian, Greek, and Latin. Since we do not know his exact code, or which calendar he was using, we are challenged with making events fit into the 942 quatrains, or vice versa.

Louisiana

I am surprised Nostradamus did not foresee the Louisiana Purchase. The United States took possession of the Louisiana Territories from France in December 1803, just before Christmas. The treaty that France drew up, sold the territory to the United States for $15 million.

The Louisiana Purchase effectively doubled the size of the existing U.S. It was 827,987 square miles, at about $18 per square mile.

The area was later made into 15 states, created or *partially created from the Louisiana Purchase: Arkansas, *Colorado, Iowa, *Kansas, Louisiana, *Minnesota, Missouri, *Montana, Nebraska, *New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, *Texas and *Wyoming.