The History of the Future
Nostradamus: How Did He Do It?
Tool 2: Astrology
by Larry A. Filoso, February – August 2023
Astrology
“Ye stars, which are the poetry of Heaven!
If, in your bright leaves, we would read the fate
Of men and empires, – ‘tis to be forgiven…” – Lord Byron
“Millionaires don’t use Astrology, Billionaires do” – J.P. Morgan
The year of Michel de Nostredame’s birth (a.k.a., Nostradamus) had been predicted almost 20 years earlier in October 1484 by a European astrologer, Paul of Middelburg. Paul was a professor of mathematics in Padua, Italy, and later became a Catholic Bishop. In 1503, according to his forecast, a “prophet” would be born.
Paul wrote this just one month before the November 1484 grand conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in Scorpio within a wide stellium of nine celestial objects. One of these objects was the massive Black Hole smack-dab in the middle of the Milky Way (the Galactic Center). I believe that this is an important point in the sky that today’s astrologers miss.
All of the stars which make up the constellations of the Zodiac are within our Milky Way galaxy, and they all spin around this Black Hole. The Sun is to our solar system what this Black Hole is to our galaxy.
Although they may have been unaware of this celestial object, ancient astrologers did track the center of our galaxy. On many star-charts, this was the “bull’s-eye” to which Sagittarius shot his arrow.
Paul believed that this oracle’s birth would occur 19 years after that grand conjunction, during the next conjunction of Saturn, Jupiter and Mars. He based his timing on the 19-year Metonic Eclipse Cycle.
Notice that in the following two charts the zodiacal locations of the eclipses (“e” for solar and “e2” for lunar) before the stellium in 1484, and before Michel’s birth in 1503, are all but identical.
Paul’s divination was built upon the earlier work of a 9th century Abbasid scholar, Abu Ma’shar, whom I will detail in Tool 3a of this article. Abu Ma’shar’s prophecy had been well known throughout Europe.
It predicted that around 1484 a “little prophet” would usher in wars within Christendom, and perform acts which would be considered “miracles”, such as healing those with the plague. [21]
Paul’s godson later believed this prediction had referred to Nostradamus, but some other astrologers thought that it referred to Martin Luther. Martin was born on November 10, 1483 OS, with his Sun in Scorpio, almost exactly one year before the grand conjunction/stellium in Scorpio (the sign of change).
Martin Luther led a large group of Catholics to break away from the Church and to form the Protestant branch of Christianity which was later adopted by England and Germany. There were indeed wars between these two branches.
Perhaps the “little prophet” who had been predicted by Abu Ma’shar, ended-up being two men instead of one. Martin Luther created a major change within the Christian religion, while Nostradamus healed hundreds from the plague and predicted the future.
Michel de Nostredame was born on December 14, 1503 OS, in France. He learned astrology from a very young age. His Jewish great-grandfather Jean de St. Rémy taught him the celestial science. He used classical astrology, which differs in some respects from the methods used by most astrologers today.
Because of his high intellect, by the age of 14, Michel had entered college at Avignon. He amazed his fellow students with his knowledge of astrology. [22]
There is a legend that he predicted the timing of a solar eclipse more accurately than did the astrology professors at his college (see Tool 4 about a computer he may have used to make this hyper-accurate prediction). In those days courses in Astrology were pre-requisites for medical students.
By his early 20’s he had become a physician and natural herbalist. He traveled from town-to-town healing many of those who had been stricken by the Black Death. During his journeys he continued to study natural (today we call them “wholistic”) medicines.
In his late 20’s, he garnered the attention of a mentor, who continued his education.
Julius Caesar Scaliger was born just seven months before that grand conjunction of 1484 that you read about at the beginning of this part of the article. Paul of Middelburg, who had predicted Michel’s birth, was the godfather (and, my intuition tells me, the father) of Julius.
Paul provided his godson with an expensive education, after which Julius became a physician and Renaissance genius. For the first decades of his adult life, I believe that Julius was searching for the “little prophet” that his godfather had predicted at the time when Julius Caesar Scaliger was a baby.
Around 1531, the 47-year-old Scaliger believed he had found who he was looking for, someone born in 1503. He invited the 27-year-old Nostradamus to come to stay with him at his estate in Agen, France. They quickly became friends and Dr. Scaliger took young Dr. Nostradamus under his wing. Michel learned more about medicine and astrology. Scaliger surely exposed Nostradamus to the knowledge of Greco-Roman scientists and astrologers found in forbidden Ancient Hidden Books (see Tool 3a).
Unfortunately, the two hot-headed geniuses had a falling out in 1534. This happened during a disastrous time for Michel symbolized by his Saturn return. They never spent time together again. (By the way, disaster literally means “bad star”.)
Nostradamus then continued to earn a reputation all around France as a doctor who had been more successful at curing the plague than others. His unorthodox methods and wholistic medicines contributed to that success. For more details, including the formula for the medicine he created to fight the plague, scan to see my article Dr. Nostradamus Vs. The Plague: Fight of the Century! (published March 2021).
By 1550 the plague had mostly subsided, and Michel turned his attention to writing and publishing his annual astrological Almanacs. It was then that he officially took the name Nostradamus.
In the course of performing his job as professional astrologer, Nostradamus calculated charts for most of the rich, powerful, and/or famous people in Europe. He also had the charts of most countries and large cities, and the major religions of his day.
He used these charts (performing “progressions”), to look into the futures of both individuals and institutions. By foreseeing the future of royalty and religious leaders, he could also predict what would happen in their kingdoms and religions. He could predict the politics of Europe.
One of his astrological prophecies concerned his King, patron and patient, Henry II. It catapulted him to fame throughout France after it came true.
It is well documented that in the mid 1500’s several famous astrologers warned France’s King Henry II that he might face a horrible death. The Italian Luca Gaurico, the British John Dee, and the French Nostradamus all had given warnings. Nostradamus wrote in 1555 in Century I, Quatrain 35:
The young lion will overcome the older
On the field of battle by single duel:
In a cage of gold eyes put out
Two fractures one, then to die, death cruel.
Luca Gaurico, having erected the charts of the French King and Queen, wrote the King a letter which Henry received in 1556 which said, very directly, “avoid all single combat in an enclosed place, especially near your 41st year, for in that period of life you will be menaced by a wound in the head which might rapidly result in blindness or even death.”
Jousting was a formal public game in which two armored knights on horseback, in order to practice attacking their enemies with a long pointed wooden lance, would race toward each other with the 10-foot-long weapon extended in front.
In order to win, one would knock the other off of his horse. Jousting was like a duel, between two contestants. The lion, the “king of the jungle”, has symbolized royalty for thousands of years.
On June 30, 1559 OS, as the 40-year-old King prepared for a joust with his friend the younger Count of Montgomery, worried Queen Catherine reminded Henry of the prophecy. The King is reported to have said to his opponent, “I care not if my death be in that manner more than in any other, I would even prefer it, to die by the hand of whoever he might be, so long as he was brave and valiant and that I kept my honor.” [Leoni pg 27, footnote 49]
Perhaps at any other time King Henry would have skipped this joust. But it was part of the festivities celebrating the two important political marriages of his sister and daughter which would result in the end of a long bloody war.
Within an hour the “older lion” was lying on the field, profusely bleeding from a wound above his right eye. He had forgotten to lower his protective visor over his face. His skull had been punctured and fractured by two splinters from the Count’s lance that went through the King’s face. As the injury in his brain above his eye progressed, he slowly lost his sight.
The King died 11 painful days later, as infection spread throughout his body, and blood-poisoning set in. According to records, during the joust he was not wearing a helmet of gold, although kings sometimes did. This episode reinforced Nostradamus’s contention that, although people have choices, they usually make the “obvious” choice, fulfilling the prophecy.
Since almost everyone in France had heard of Michel de Nostredame’s prediction about the King’s death several years before, this breaking news cemented his reputation as a psychic astrologer.
If you would like to study Henry’s chart, here is his birth information courtesy of Luca Gaurico: Henry II, King of France born March 31, 1519 OS at 5:02 AM LMT in St Germain en Laye, France (48n18, 002e05).
One of the core precepts of astrology is that “history repeats itself”. Analyzing those patterns allows us to predict future probabilities. We all know that after Winter, Spring will blossom, because it happens over and over again. “Things happen in cycles”, but many of them are not as obvious as the seasons.
This horrific jousting incident was almost an exact repeat of what had occurred to another King Henry, the British King Henry VIII, almost 36 years earlier (three orbits of Jupiter, which was the ruling planet of both Kings).
On March 10, 1524 OS in a jousting match, like the later French King, he forgot to close his visor which would have protected his face. His opponent’s lance struck him above the right eye, and the lance sent wooden splinters into the British King’s helmet. The King sustained no serious injury, but may have had migraine headaches thereafter.
However, twelve years later (and one spin around the zodiac for Jupiter), the 44-year-old British monarch was not so lucky (Jupiter). In another jousting accident on January 24, 1536 OS, he fell off of his horse (Jupiter), and the horse fell upon him. He was unconscious for two hours. This fall caused brain trauma and injuries to his thigh (Jupiter), which never completely healed.
Several official writers of that time recorded that before this accident, Henry VIII had been tall, muscular, attractive, athletic, generous, and funny (all symbolized by his ruling planet, Jupiter). Afterwards, perhaps because of the brain trauma, constant pain, insomnia, and infection, he became an obese tyrant.
Here are the particulars for the chart of King Henry VIII from Marc Penfield in “An Astrological Who’s Who” (1972): June 28, 1491 OS at 9:25 AM LMT in Greenwich, England.
Challenge:
Erect the natal charts of both Kings and then do progressions to see if you can spot which configurations symbolized these dramatic events. Then share and compare your results and comments with other readers at the end of this page.
In His Own Words
Nostradamus wrote frequently about his use of astrology. Here are just a few examples:
…even the vanity of the more than detestable [black] magic rebuked by the sacred scriptures, and by the divine canons; but the best of these is exempted, the judgment of Judicial Astrology by which, with psychic ability and divine revelation, by continual watches and calculations [of the stars], have our prophecies been written down [Leoni pg 125:15-16]
I have consecrated my nocturnal and prophetic calculations; composed by psychic instinct and accompanied by a poetic fury, less than by the rules of poetry; and most of them composed and tuned to Astronomical calculation, corresponding to the years, months and weeks of the regions, countries, and most of the towns and cities of all Europe, including Africa, and part of Asia [Leoni pgs 325:3 – 327:3]
How many in the present or future can be persons to whom God the Creator reveals by psychic visions some secrets of the future, given through judicial astrology, as in times past [Leoni pg 122:9]
…but as for the occult pronouncements which one comes to receive by meditation which sometimes defy understanding, contemplating the remotest of stars… [Leoni pg 122:10]
For he who is called a prophet now was once called a seer. [Leoni pg 125:11]
If I had wanted to date each quatrain, I could have done so. [Leoni pg 339:39]
All these figures are justly adapted, by the divine writings, to the visible celestial objects, that is to say, by [conjunctions of] Saturn, Jupiter and Mars and the other consorts [planets], as one will be able to see more fully in some quatrains. I would have performed even more advanced calculations and grouped the quatrains dealing with the same event, but seeing, O most serene King, that some of the censors would find difficulty with them, that causes my pen to be withdrawn… [Leoni pg 345:57]
Note that in the last quote he specifies the word “visible” (your author italicized it). Did he know of the outer planets which are not visible? He mentions the planet Neptune, which was not discovered until 1846, in Century 4, Quatrain 33 (’46).
Astrology was one of the main tools that Nostradamus used to predict the probabilities of the future. His biographers tell us that he began to learn the celestial science at a very young age from his great-grandfather. As a teenager he attended college and become a doctor.
Through 40 years of research, I was the first to discover that the astrologer Paul of Middleburg had predicted Nostradamus, based on a conjunction of Saturn, Jupiter and Mars. Paul’s godson Julius Caesar Scaliger was likely looking for and found Michel de Nostredame. In his late 20’s, Michel was tutored by Julius in Medicine and Astrology.
Michel de Nostredame cured many hundreds from the Black Plague using advanced medical techniques and wholistic medicines. Then, in his late 40’s, he began to publish astrological predictions. One particular prediction of the death of his King made him a household name in France.
He studied history and advanced astrology from what my research indicates was a hidden library, which had its roots in ancient Egypt. We’ll explore that next time in Tool 3a. Later, in Tool 3b, we’ll learn how two exploding stars that he predicted changed Europe. Please join us.
References, Citations and Notes
All charts and planetary positions were calculated using Solar Fire version 9 in Windows. For citations from Edgar Leoni’s book, one of my main references, I specify the Century and Quatrain numbers for poems, or Page:Paragraph numbers for prose writings. Within my text, direct quotations from Nostradamus are printed in Red, usually with the citation source next to the quotation for easy reference.
Nostradamus: How Did He Do It? (Tool 2) was published in the American Federation of Astrologers magazine “Today’s Astrologer” in the October 14, 2023 edition, Volume 85, Number 10.
The AFA was founded in 1938 to promote the art and science of astrology through education and research. It was the first American national astrological organization to administer certification examinations to encourage a high standard of professional ethics among astrologers.
1 thought on “Tool 2: Astrology”
This is a great and insightful article! Thanks for sharing.