Michel de Nostradame

The renowned prophet Nostradamus (Michel de Nostradame) was born on December 14, 1503 in St. Remy, Provence, France. Nostradamus came from a long line of Jewish doctors and scholars. His family had converted from Judaism to Christianity in 1502, as a result of persecution on the ascension of Louis the XII. After a classical education he studied medicine, herbalism and astrology.

During Nostradamus’ lifetime the Black Death (today known as the bubonic plague) wiped out over a quarter of Europe. It is no wonder that a sense of apocalyptic terror fills Nostradamus’ quatrains.

Nostradamus can indisputably be said to have been ahead of his time, at least in terms of medical practice. His treatment of the Black Death involved removal of the infected corpses, fresh air and unpolluted water for the healthy, a herbal preparation rich in Vitamin C, and (in contravention of contemporary medical practise) not bleeding his patients.

Nostradamus began to write his prophetic verses in the city of Salon, in 1554. They are divided into ten sections called Centuries. The Centuries – groups of 100 quatrains (one Century only had 42 quatrains) were published in 1555 and 1558, and have been in print continuously ever since. His poetic yet cryptic quatrains are claimed by some to conceal information about future events. He completed a total of 942 quatrains. A quatrain is simply a poem with 4 lines.

Nostradamus had the visions which he later recorded in verse while staring into water or flame late at night, sometimes aided by herbal stimulants, while sitting on a brass tripod.

Nostradamus is said to have predicted his own death. When his assistant wished him goodnight on July 1, 1566, Nostradamus reputedly pronounced, “You will not find me alive at sunrise.” He was found dead on July 2, 1566.

Nostradamus was interred standing upright in the Church of the Cordeliers of Salon. However, his story does not end there; he was disinterred twice, once on purpose and once maliciously.

In 1700, his body was moved by the city to a more prominent crypt. When a necklace was found on his skeleton bearing the date ‘1700’, his body was hurriedly reinterred.

During the French Revolution, in 1791, some drunken soldiers broke into his tomb. The mayor quickly placated the mob by describing how Nostradamus had predicted the revolution, and they replaced the bones in the crypt.

However, Nostradamus had the last laugh. In Century 9, Quatrain 7, he had written:

The man who opens the tomb when it is found and who does not close it immediately, Evil will come to him
That no one will be able to prove.

Reputedly, the soldiers who desecrated his tomb for the final time were ambushed on their way back to base and killed to the last man.

 Nostradamus has become one of the world’s most widely known and read prophets.

Mother Shipton

Mother Shipton (circa 1486-1561) was a legendary English witch and soothsayer, known as the Yorkshire Sibyl. She is supposed to have been born at Dropping Well, Knaresborough, Yorkshire, in about the year 1486. No biographical information concerning her is based upon trustworthy sources.

An early account of her life says that she was christened Janet Ursula by the abbot of Beverly. Her surname was reportedly Southill. Her mother, Agatha, was reputed to be a witch. An 18th century biographer described her appearance in these words: “Her stature was larger than common, her body crooked, her face frightful, but her understanding extraordinary.”

An ancient Scottish chronicle reports that her entrance into the world was attended by “various wonderful presages.”

“A raven croaked upon the chimney top; an extraordinary noise was heard about the house for several nights before; and a violent storm of thunder and rain was the immediate precursor of her arrival. “

“It was also observed that as soon as she was born, she fell a grinning and laughing, after a jeering manner, and immediately the tempest ceased.”

She is supposed to have married a builder named Tony Shipton in 1512, from whom she took the name by which she has been known to posterity. It is said that Mother Shipton died at Clifton, Yorkshire, in 1561. For a number of years prior to 1839, a wax effigy of the Yorkshire Sibyl stood in Westminster Abbey, along with those of other noted persons.

John and Revelation

The Book of Revelation, also known as the Book of the Apocalypse or the Apocalypse of John, is canonically the last book of the New Testament. Written in Greek, its title is derived from the first word of the text, apocalypse, which means “revelation” or “unveiling”. The Book of Revelation is the only apocalyptic book in the New Testament canon, and occupies a central place in Christian eschatology.

The book spans three literary genres: the epistolary, the apocalyptic, and the prophetic. It begins with John, on the island of Patmos in the Aegean Sea, addressing letters to the “Seven Churches of Asia” with exhortations from Christ. He then describes a series of prophetic and symbolic visions, which would culminate in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. These visions include figures such as a Woman clothed with the sun with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars, the Serpent, the Seven-Headed Dragon, and the Beast.

The author names himself as simply “John” in the text, and states in Revelation 1:9 that he is on the island of Patmos, and so he is conventionally called “John of Patmos“. He was a Jewish–Christian prophet, probably belonging to a group of such prophets, and was accepted by the congregations to whom he addressed his letter. The New Testament canon has four other “Johannine works” ascribed to authors named John, and a tradition dating from Irenaeus (c. 130 – c. 202 AD) identifies John the Apostle as the author of all five. The modern academic consensus is that a Johannine community produced the Gospel of John and the three Johannine epistles, while John of Patmos wrote the Book of Revelation separately.

The Book of Revelation is commonly dated to about 95 AD, as suggested by clues in the visions pointing to the reign of the Roman Emperor Domitian (81–96), The Beast with seven heads and the number 666 seem to allude directly to the Emperor Nero (reigned 54–68), but this does not imply that the book was written in the 60s, as there was a widespread belief in later decades that Nero would return.