The History of the Future
Doctor Nostradamus vs. The Plague: Fight of the Century!
by Larry A. Filoso, January 2021
See Nostradamus Dates the End of the World
* Dedicated To All Those Who Have Fought or Are Fighting the COVID-19 Virus *
Locked-down browsers, churches and government offices are locked, lockers in school are locked and in some cases so are the schools. Locksmiths are locked in their homes. COVID-19 has turned our lives upside-down. But it was much worse 500 years ago when Dr. Nostradamus lived. Many people all over the world have heard of Nostradamus and his ten Centuries of Prophecies. Few know that before he wrote those famous books he was a genius doctor, who healed hundreds of patients using unorthodox methods from the future.
What Can We Learn About Him from His Natal Chart?
-Nostradamus had Aries rising, Mars conjunct Jupiter and Saturn in the fourth house: he was a pioneer, independent, spirited, sometimes a loner, made enemies of public institutions, had several changes in home life, enjoyed action, in younger days was sometimes impatient, became a physician; Pluto was at its perihelion in its 243 year orbit.
-Mutual reception Mars in Cancer fourth house and Moon in Scorpio eighth: death surrounded him (the plague), death of family (first wife and children); asked “what happens after death?”.
-Uranus in Pisces, Neptune in Capricorn: he obscured his political astrological prophecies so as not to activate “self-undoing” in public, learned to travel astrally into the sky to other times and places to watch events which he then wrote about, understood the deeper meanings of astrology, merged astrology and clairvoyance.
-Sun in Capricorn conjunct Mercury and Midheaven: unquenchable courage in the face of danger, fame by creative and unique writing and publishing that would last a long time, spent most of his time studying, great power in his destiny, detached in times of crisis; with Saturn in Cancer he loved history, he lived simultaneously in the past (Moon/Saturn), present (Mars/Sun), and future (Uranus).
-Mars, Jupiter, Saturn in the fourth house of Cancer in the zodiacal sign of Cancer conjunct the twin stars Castor and Pollux (of the constellation Gemini): strengthens Mercury (opposed on Midheaven) bringing success in publishing and sudden fame, often with great affliction involving family, and a keen intellect; Jupiter conjunct with these stars, danger of unfortunate judicial sentence (the Inquisition), occult interests.
-Those planets trine the Moon: he realized the importance of water for health; was in tune with Mother Nature and studied natural health remedies; Jupiter symbolized his devotion to religion (he was a lifelong devout Roman Catholic), philosophy, travel, whatever propelled his journey.
-Water Trine – conjunction in Cancer of Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars trine Moon in Scorpio trine Uranus in Pisces: loved hidden knowledge, flexible, deep feelings, cared about others and Earth.
-Uranus in the twelfth house in Pisces: used drugs and self-hypnosis to enable astral Projection, was clairvoyant; became interested in astrology at a young age when Uranus transited across his Ascendant and into his first house. Venus in Aquarius says “money from astrology”.
Astrology has taught me that those seeking enlightenment seek balance. Nature itself always seeks equilibrium. The 6 opposite pairs of signs of the zodiac represent the extremes. There are other ways this principle can be symbolized in a chart, e. g. planetary oppositions or aspects of planetary opposites like Venus and Mars. Ultimately, we seek balance in all 12 signs, completing the perfect circle which contains the chart. We see in which categories of life the pendulum swings back and forth, from one extreme to the other, swinging less and less until it stops and those extremes are balanced. Nostradamus lived the symbolism found in his natal chart. He struggled with extremes in home life (fourth house) and fame (tenth house), in subjectivity (Moon) and objectivity (Saturn).
As you read through this article and examine the charts, you’ll notice a pattern developing that threads through all of these plague events and the people involved. The 20-year cycle of Jupiter/Saturn conjunctions, especially when conjunct Mars and/or Pluto, and the houses and signs Cancer and Capricorn, the planets Moon and Saturn together all symbolize blood-borne plagues.
Many of the charts displayed here are not based upon a specific event. They are designed to show configurations in the heavens, usually conjunctions, oppositions or clusters of major planets. The events symbolized by an eclipse do not always happen at the moment of the eclipse – they may occur months before or after. The same is true of these major configurations. They may even show events and trends that last multiple years.
A Short History Lesson (History? Yuck!)
On December 14th, 1503 in a small French town near Marseille, a beautiful little baby boy was born to Jacques and Renee de Nostredame. They named him Michel. Even as a toddler, he showed glimmers of genius. His maternal grandfather, Pierre de Saint-Rémy, and maternal great-grandfather Jean de Saint-Rémy were successful doctors for royalty. Jean asked that he be allowed to raise Michel and give him the very best education. Jean taught his soon-to-be-famous great-grandson mathematics, medicine, pharmacology, geometry, four languages, and astrology. Young Michel’s classmates gave him the title “little astrologer” – some biographers say that as a student he calculated the time of an eclipse more accurately than did the experts. One day this little psychic astrologer would become world-famous as Nostradamus, seer of the future.
In fact, he was so smart that he entered college in Avignon at the young age of 14. Some sources say that around 1522 at the age of 18 he entered the prestigious University of Montpellier [2], the top medical college in France at that time, then left to study herbal medications and help treat the sick until 1529. The records of the University of Montpellier dated October 23, 1529 show his name entered on the student rolls. There is evidence that he was expelled at one point for arguing with his professors as he expressed his unorthodox views about medicine, then re-entered the university and continued until he received his Doctorate in Medicine. Whatever the timing, afterwards we know that he was a practicing physician.
From the 1520’s until the 1540’s several outbreaks of the Black Death pandemic struck areas of southern France. It was a contagious and very lethal disease. After leaving medical college Doctor Nostradamus rolled-up his sleeves and went straight to work. Very quickly he earned a reputation as he travelled from town-to-town, healing the sick. [3] [4]
In 1531 Nostradamus was invited by Julius-César Scaliger, considered to have been one of the smartest men in Renaissance Europe, to come to Agen and study with him. Along the way, Nostradamus retraced his travels to many of the towns and cities in southern France where he had treated plague victims. In many places he was given a hero’s welcome because he had saved so many of the townspeople. One biographer wrote “… no king, prince or count was ever received by the peasants of the Midi as… Nostradamus.” [5] His reputation as a physician spread all over France.
Later, in the early 1540’s he popped up in Marseilles fighting the Black Death again. Doesn’t Black Death sound like a wrestler? “Black Death is down on the mat, and Nostradamus has it in a choke hold. And the referee is counting one, two, three… You’re OUT!”
Next he traveled to the small city of Aix. Nostradamus wrote that the plague began here on May 1, 1544. His son wrote down his father’s description of the plague there: “Persons stricken by the fury of this malady completely abandon all hope of recovery… houses are abandoned and empty, men disfigured, women in tears… shops shut, arts halted, temples solitary and the priests all confused… the 270 days that the evil lasted…”. [6] One of his biographers stated that in gratitude for the many lives he had saved, the Parliament of Aix voted Nostradamus a lifetime pension. [7]
Notice how Jupiter and Saturn are again conjunct in a water sign (they were conjunct in Cancer in Nostradamus’ chart, this time in Scorpio nearly conjunct Nostradamus’ natal Pluto) opposed the Sun with the wide square of Pluto.
As his fame as a healer spread, so did stories of incidents in which he predicted the future. By 1550 he began publishing his Almanacs, prophecies for the following year with astrological positions of the moon and planting guides for farmers which sold quite well. As people saw many of his prophecies come to pass with their own eyes, his fame as a seer overshadowed what he had done as a physician. In 1555 he began publishing his ten Centuries of Prophecies which made important predictions about the future until the year 3797. In 1556 he became physician and counselor to the Queen of France. The rest is history! (History again?)
How Does COVID-19 Compare With The Black Death?
Fortunately, COVID-19 is much less deadly. About 70 percent of those infected don’t even know that they have it. Their well-functioning immune systems identified and killed the COVID-19 invaders before they had a chance to multiply and spread. Since medical science has advanced, not only do we quarantine, but we have other options to try to slow the spread of the germs which cause disease, like wearing masks, antibiotics and antiviral medicines, and vaccines. We owe a great debt of gratitude to our heroic medical workers putting their lives on the line – the front lines of the COVID-19 plague.
The great astrological clock (upon which our clocks and calendars are based) was ticking in 2020 as COVID-19 struck. Starting in mid-March 2020, Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, Pluto, and the Moon were all conjunct around 25 degrees Capricorn. On June 21st, 2020 there was a momentous solar eclipse at 0 degrees Cancer, on the same Metonic cycle as the solar eclipse of June 21st, 2001 which portended the attack on 9/11.
[Chart 3: 3/18/20 NS, no specific event.]
Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, with Mars and Pluto, and the Moon.
Unlike COVID-19, the Black Death (todays’ scientists call it ”Bubonic Plague”), caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, may have first appeared in 541 AD when it was called “The Plague of Justinian”. Some climatologists now believe that a meteor or comet hit the earth a few years earlier in 537 and may have contributed to this plague. [8]
When the Bubonic Plague struck again, this time in the mid 1300’s, it lasted for about 10 years killing millions more. Since then it has played a deadly “whack-a-mole” game with the human populations of Eurasia, called by different names at different times. It would disappear in one area, only to pop up again in another area years later. Scientists believe that it was this same germ which reappeared in the time of Nostradamus to bring the plague again. Some at that time called it “La Peste” – The Pestilence, or The Plague.
In the initial stages of the disease, the symptoms of The Black Death included nausea and vomiting, painful headaches and joints, and fever. As the disease progressed, victims reported high fevers and coughing up blood. For many patients, as the disease reached its final stage, black or purple spots of gangrene and/or bloody swollen lymph nodes appeared on the body, giving this plague its name. Untreated, 60 to 80 percent of its victims died within days.
The Latin phrase “Nigrum Mortem” (Black Death) referring to this illness probably first appeared in 1350 in a poem written by a forerunner of Nostradamus, the physician, historian, and astrologer Simon de Covino. That poem, “On the Judgement of the Sun at a Feast of Saturn” attributed the plague to a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn a few years earlier. [9] In a report from the same time, given to King Philip VI of France by the medical faculty in Paris, a conjunction of three planets in March 1345 (Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn in Aquarius) and the appearance of a comet or meteor over Paris in August 1348 were blamed as the cause. [10] By the way, a major earthquake occurred on January 25, 1348 registering about 7 on today’s Richter scale, centered in Northeastern Italy, which shook most of Europe. [11] [12]
This version of the plague probably started in China or Crimea (ruled by Cancer), and spread westward on ships, killing one out of every three Europeans within 10 years. It was the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history.
Simon de Covino was also the first physician to officially recognize that the plague was being spread from country-to-country by cargo ships. He suggested to one of the main trading ports serving Europe, the Italian city of Venice, an old Roman technique called “quarantino”. Arriving ships, their crews, passengers and cargo, were isolated in completely separate quarters on an island for 40 days. [13] [14]
As you can see from the following chart for Jan 4, 1345, there was a grouping of eight planets within a 40 degree arc, five in Capricorn. In March of that same year a solar eclipse occurred at the South Node conjunct Pluto and Uranus.
[Chart 4: 1/4/1345 OS, Black Death was becoming a global pandemic. No specific event.]
What Secrets Made Doctor Nostradamus So Successful Against the Plague?
Using astrology, clairvoyance, and astral projection, I believe that Nostradamus could see the future of medicine. Like other Renaissance scholars, he also had access to long-hidden ancient Greek, Hebrew, and Egyptian manuscripts containing knowledge far ahead of the state of science in the 1500’s. If we had them now, perhaps they would have even more to teach us. [15] [16]
I believe that Nostradamus may have suspected that disease was spread by germs 300 years before Louis Pasteur convinced science of it. In Century 1 Quatrain 25 we find the word/name “pasteur”. This was the French word for “pastor”, but was also the surname of Louis Pasteur:
Lost, found, hidden for so long a cycle,
Will be pasteur demi-god honored:
Before the Moon ends its great cycle,
Seen by others will be dishonored.
The third line is an astrological clue which may date this Quatrain to between 1792 and 1828. This is interesting because not only was Louis Pasteur born within that period in 1822, but in 1877 France (Nostradamus’ home and the location where many of his prophecies take place) declared Pasteur a “National Hero” (close to a demigod, right?). Pasteur convinced the scientists of his time, who believed that disease was caused by “bad air”, that illness was instead caused by invisible creatures called germs or microbes. He invented a technique which today bears his name: “pasteurization”. Heating our milk and other foods kills microbes to keep them from infecting us. The similar technique of cleaning and heating medical instruments and infected clothing to kill germs is today called “sterilization”. It was used by Pasteur and his contemporary, Joseph Lister.
Pasteur, a medical scientist like Nostradamus, was courageous to champion the technology which today we call “vaccines”. The French CDC of the time (The Paris Academy of Sciences) was certain that vaccines would never work. “Invisible creatures?”, they would just laugh. They tried to destroy Pasteur’s career (just as many doctors during Nostradamus’ time had done to him).
There is a cluster of six planets in Capricorn in the third house, five are conjunct and trine Saturn in Taurus; Mars is trine Jupiter in Taurus. Jupiter and Saturn had joined in their important twenty-year cycle in 1821 at 25 degrees Aries, square to Mars in this chart and on the descendant.
From his writings we know that Nostradamus practiced sanitation if not sterilization. Infected items and clothing were burned. He kept his hands and medical tools spotlessly clean. Sterilization and cleanliness are two of the cornerstones of medicine today. He tried as best he could to isolate or quarantine the sickest patients.
Nostradamus also foresaw and practiced what today is called Wholistic Medicine. He focused on supporting the body’s natural defenses. Ancient scientists believed that working in tune with Mother Nature (symbolized by the Moon in astrology) would produce better results than trying to conquer Nature. He believed as did the ancients that if a human body is perfectly healthy, it could fend off any disease and most injuries. The medical profession today looks at the human body as a collection of organs, each with a specialized task. Our body is seen as a machine, with replaceable parts. Wholistic medicine not only looks at the “trees”, individual organs, but also looks at the “forest”, the whole person.
Dr. Nostradamus was aware of organs from observing dissections and studying ancient books of Greek medicine. However, his focus was the fact that two thirds of our body is made of water. The water we drink, and whatever is in it, becomes part of us. He believed that long-term dehydration (drying of the body, too little water in the blood) dragged-down the general health and made us more susceptible to blood-borne infections.
Saturn rules drying. The Moon, Cancer, and the fourth house all rule the flowing water which makes up most of our bloodstream. Mars, Aries, and the first house rule the “soldiers” (antibodies) that protect us from disease-causing germs, and the red iron in the blood carries the oxygen that all parts of the body need (fire cannot exist without oxygen).
The blood is the core of our immune system. Blood keeps us going by powering our muscles. In fact, the pressure created by our heart and blood enables us to stand-up and walk. Nostradamus avoided foods or drinks that caused dehydration, and warned his son Caesar: “And also, my son, I beg you to never want such habits which dehydrate the body and destroy the soul, clouding the senses”. [17] Earlier in that writing he says “… by the purity of the water within us…”. [18] When I first translated this, I had to chuckle. It reminded me of that famous scene in the movie “Dr. Strangelove…” in which General Ripper talked about how pollution of the water caused weakness and ill health. He proudly declared that he drank only pure spring water. But he was crazy, wasn’t he?
One of the biggest reasons for his success may have been that Dr. Nostradamus refused to perform the procedure to cure the plague recommended by the French medical establishment of the time – bloodletting. A doctor would make a small controlled incision, cutting a vein, and allow a certain amount of blood to drain out before closing the wound. Doctors had done that since Roman times. It sounds so primitive to us today, but there was some rationale behind it. His refusal may have been the reason for Nostradamus’ temporary expulsion from medical school.
When the body is cut and bleeds during an injury, the blood’s soldiers immediately go into action to plug the leak, replace the lost blood and protect against infection. That last part is the job of the white blood cells of the immune system. So it makes sense that in some minor diseases, releasing a small amount of blood might cause our soldiers to go on the attack, kill the disease and cure the patient. However in cases where the disease is more advanced, bleeding would only make matters worse. It would also contribute to dehydration. Incidentally, vaccines use a similar, but much more advanced technique. They are designed to gently attack the immune system with very weak enemy soldiers to sound the alarm to action. Our awakened defenses create the Special Forces soldiers (antibodies) to attack and kill the disease’s enemy soldiers.
Nostradamus became famous for his herbal medications. He sometimes made them within delicious jams and jellies to encourage patients to take them. The most famous was his “Rose Pill”. He first gave this to his plague patients, but it was used for many years after as a way to improve the health and immune system. Here is his formula, with the medicinal qualities from modern science [19]:
6 ounces Iris of Florence [detoxifies the body of impurities, strengthens lungs]
3 ounces cloves [regulates blood-sugar, anti-inflammatory, antiseptic; contains large amounts of vitamins C and K* and trace elements]
1 ounce sawdust from the greenest Cyprus available [WebMD: good for coughs, colds, bronchitis, hemorrhoids, varicose veins; contains terpenes]
6 drams lign-aloes [not modern Aloe plant; fragrant, dark, resinous wood of Aguilaria tree when infected with certain mold, antibiotic]
3 drams odorated calamus [root, immunosuppressant, sedative, analgesic, hypotensive, respiratory depressive]
The above mixture was ground into a fine powder and mixed with 300-400 pulverized fresh red roses “picked just before sunrise” and carefully kept from exposure to air. Science tells us that roses have a high concentration of natural Vitamin C which is one of the best ways to boost our immune systems.
Red thorny roses are ruled by Mars, and “just before sunrise” was when the Sun was in the first house of Aries about to cross the local Ascendant.
His patients kept one of these tasty and fragrant pills under their tongue. The ingredients fortify the immune system, balance blood chemistry and hormones, improve arterial walls, slow inflammation (swelling), reduce pain, relax the patient, may have antibiotic properties and help to clear the lungs and reduce coughing.
It seems unlikely that his techniques would have worked on very ill patients near death. But for those who were treated early with fairly strong immune systems, the combination of quarantine, sterilization, hydration, absence of bloodletting and this strong herbal medicine must have cured most of them and stopped the spread. These rose pills became famous all over Europe and were known by the name “Nostrum”, a name like Nostradamus. Doctors of the time believed that “bad air” caused the Black Death, so probably could not understand why these pills might actually work (except that they smelled good).
What Can We Lean From Nostradamus About Health?
For me, the biggest takeaway is the lesson about dehydration. It can mask, even contribute to, high blood pressure. I believe when science looks back at this COVID-19 plague, they will realize that being dehydrated made us more vulnerable. Especially in America, we drink lots of coffee, tea, soda, and alcohol. All of these contain diuretics – drugs that dehydrate us, especially alcohol (which Nostradamus warned his son about). When they rub alcohol on our skin just before giving us the COVID-19 vaccine, it kills the germs on our skin by DEHYDRATING them to death. Nostradamus believed in drinking large volumes of good, natural spring water.
The quality of food that we eat is also important. Food provides the building-blocks that are used to create and repair our bodies. “You are what you eat”. Nostradamus believed that impurities and pollution over time weaken our immune system, so we should avoid them whenever possible.
For good health we should follow as much as possible the advice our dads and moms gave us: get plenty of exercise, spend time outdoors in the Sun to create natural vitamin D and/or take supplements, drink copious amounts of (fresh spring) water, breathe fresh unpolluted air, eat foods as close to raw and ripe as possible (including lots of citrus fruits which contain Vitamin C), get quality sleep (which only comes with exercise), and repair the damage caused by stress through meditation and having lots of fun.
What's In Our Future?
Just as Michel de Nostredame (aka Nostradamus) and many of this countrymen and women survived, we will get through this COVID-19 plague, and get back to normal. It will be fantastic to be able to shake hands again, go to concerts and football games, and travel on vacations. We will be able to party and meet with our friends, and leave the confines of our homes and be free again!
Citations
NOTE: All charts and planetary positions were calculated using Solar Fire version 9 on Windows
[1] Edgar Leoni, Nostradamus and His Prophecies (Baltimore/New York: Bell Publishing Company, 1982 Reprint), 15. Originally published Nostradamus, Life and Literature (New York: New York Exposition Press, 1961)
[2] Dr. Frank Heynick, Jews and Medicine, An Epic Saga (New Jersey: KTAV Publishing House, Inc., 2002), 183
[3] Editors, (2021). “Nostradamus Biography” [Online]. Available: https://www.biography.com/scholar/nostradamus [2021, February].
[4] William C. Shiel Jr. MD, FACP, FACR, (2021). “Medical Definition of Nostradamus” [Online]. Available: https://www.medicinenet.com/nostradamus/definition.htm [2021, February].
[5] Leoni, Nostradamus and His Prophecies, 19
[6] Ibid., 22
[7] Ibid.
[8] Mike Wall, (2013). “How Halley’s comet is linked to a famine 1,500 years ago” [Online]. Available: https://www.nbcnews.com/sciencemain/how-halleys-comet-linked-famine-1-500-years-ago-2D11776548 [2021, February]
[9] Editors, (2021). “Black Death” [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death [2021, February].
[10] Rosemary Horrox, (2000). “The Black Death” [Online]. Available: https://web.stanford.edu/class/history13/Readings/Horrox.htm [2021, February].
[11] Ibid.
[12] Editors, (2021). “1348 Friuli earthquake” [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1348_Friuli_earthquake , [2021, February].
[13] Pasquale Accardo, The Medical Almanac… (Berlin, Germany: Springer Science & Business Media, 2002), 53
[14] Sara Toth Stub, (2020). “Venice’s Black Death and the Dawn of Quarantine” [Online]. Available:
https://www.sapiens.org/archaeology/venice-quarantine-history [2021, February].
[15] Leoni, Nostradamus and His Prophecies, 56
[16] Michel de Nostredame, Preface of M. Nostradamus to his Prophecies., Sentence 18
[17] Ibid., Sentence 17
[18] Ibid., Sentence 2
[19] Leoni, Nostradamus and His Prophecies, 22
Doctor Nostradamus vs. The Plague: Fight of the Century! was published in the American Federation of Astrologers magazine “Today’s Astrologer” in the February 11, 2021 edition, Volume 83, Number 2.
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.