The Letter to Cesar and the Epistle to Henry II contain references to a framework about the existence of the world from its beginning until its end. In the Letter to Cesar, Nostradamus refers to a seventh and an eighth millennium.² He also mentions the Sun, the Moon and Saturn as planets, which in some way guide humanity through the eras.³ In the Epistle to Henry II, he writes two times about a seventh millennium and he refers to Saturn as a leading planet.⁴ Nostradamus presents these millennia in the context of his own lifetime and the future. He never mentions a ninth millennium. The millennium model consists of eight millennia, eight periods of one thousand years.

   The beginning date of the first millennium is based on the total of 4173 years and 8 months, given in the Epistle to Henry II. This total is the time span of the Old Testament, counted from the creation of the world until the birth of Jesus Christ.⁵ In the NAB-project, this birth was dated on December 25, 1 BC. The date of the creation of the world is 4173 years and 8 months earlier, i.e. April 25, 4174 BC. This date is the beginning date of the first millennium. The eighth millennium ends on April 25, 3827.

   In the Letter to Cesar, Nostradamus writes that in his lifetime, the Moon guides humanity. The Sun succeeds the Moon. Saturn, whose leadership returns, succeeds the Sun. This means that the Moon rules the sixth millennium, the Sun the seventh and Saturn the eighth and another one. Nostradamus writes also about an anagorique revolution, a revolution which brings both life and death.⁶ This is an allusion to Revelations 19,20-21 (the death of the beast, the false prophet and their followers) and Revelations 20,4 (the resurrection of the martyrs). These events occur around the beginning of the biblical kingdom of 1.000 years.

   In the Epistle to Henry II, Nostradamus writes that Saturn will bring another reign and a “golden age”.⁷ This also is an allusion to the biblical kingdom of 1.000 years and to a second leadership of Saturn.

   The Sun, the Moon and Saturn are “millennium rulers”.

   According to Nostradamus, the millennium model covers the complete existing period of the world. He does not give an astrological analysis of world history. Whereas Roussat discusses in depth four astrological frameworks regarding the existence of the world from the beginning until the end, Nostradamus is rather “future oriented”.⁸ His main aim is to present his predictions.

   Nostradamus does not give a list of the rulers of the first, second, third, fourth and fifth millennium. He only writes that the leadership of Saturn returns, which implies that Saturn more than once is a millennium ruler.

   Nostradamus does not explain the influence of the planets in their act as millennium rulers, not even the influence of the Moon and the Sun. He only writes about the influence of Saturn, who brings a golden age, which is a reference to the biblical kingdom of 1.000 years. The anagorique revolution, mentioned in the Letter to Cesar, is also a description of an effect of Saturn.

   The indicated date is February 27, 1554. On that date, there was a Sun / Saturn conjunction on 18:50:53 Pisces, while Mars was on 15:37:25 Pisces, behind this conjunction. There were no other planets between this Sun/Saturn conjunction and the first degree of Aries, so this Sun / Saturn conjunction was indeed the “last conflagration” in Pisces.¹¹

   The “last conflagration” also points to Revelations 20,14-15 : the Last Judgment and the “second death”, the sentence executed over those whose names are not listed in the Book of Life. This second death is a death by fire. It is the last death of this kind. After this death, heaven and earth will vanish and there will be a new heaven and a new earth. According to the millennium model, this will happen on April 25, 3827.

   In the Letter to Cesar, a configuration on February 27, 1554 refers to the end of the world as described in Revelations. According to Nostradamus, this occurs on April 25, 3827. In astrology, the relation between February 27, 1554 and April 25, 3827, can only exist by means of a progression system, a system in which degrees of arc are converted in time by means of a time enlargement factor.

   In order to find a progression system, all quatrains with references to zodiacal longitudes and / or aspects of Saturn were examined, since Saturn has the longest rotation period of all classic planets: 29 years and 167 days. This resulted in a series of 19 quatrains. Of these quatrains, quatrain 08-49 referred to August 11, 1527. The zodiacal longitude of Saturn: 0.51.59 Taurus, retrograde. This is the earliest date concerning Saturn. The latest date was found in quatrain 05-91: June 6, 1551. The zodiacal longitude of Saturn: 21:43:24 Aquarius, retrograde.

   In the NAB-project, the thesis about astrological data in the Centuries is that they refer to a chronological series of data. The final date, on which the world will end, is February 27, 1554. The earliest date, found in the quatrains, is August 11, 1527. This implies a period of at least 26 years, since only a minority of quatrains contain astrological data.

   Due to retrogradation, it was impossible to derive progression systems, based on the rotations of Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter or Saturn. The rotation of the Sun and the Moon did not supply a solution either. It was only by means of linear extrapolation of the motion of the Caput Draconis that a progression system was derived. This system is named: the “CD4-system”, because one degree movement of the Caput Draconis equals four years in the fulfilment period (March 1, 1555 - April 25, 3827). Nostradamus calculates the advancing time with a factor, the Caput Draconis, which moves constantly backwards with a constant speed (0:03:10).

   In the case of the Prophecies, Nostradamus applied two prediction systems. In the Epistle to Henry II, the second set of predictions is based on what in the NAB-project is named: the CD100-system. In this system, one degree movement of the Caput Draconis equals one hundred years in the period 1606 - 3827.¹²

   The Almanachs of Nostradamus are the result of another way of practicing judiciary astrology. He based the predictions in the Almanachs on the zodiacal longitudes and aspects as they occur in the years he described in the Almanachs. He also applied quartercharts (charts, calculated for the ingress of the Sun in Aries, Cancer, Libra or Capricorn), and lunar phases. In judiciary astrology, the impact of astrological aspects is at its highest on the day the aspect is full. This impact is noticeable some time before this moment, and slowly decays after this moment. Nostradamus applied this principle, which can be seen in for example his booklet about a Lunar Eclipse on September 16, 1559.¹³ In one case, the assumption that an Almanach contains a prediction which will be fulfilled 30 years later, was proved to be wrong.¹⁴ In the Almanachs and similar publications, Nostradamus did not apply progression systems.

   In two discussions of natal charts, drawn by Nostradamus, the use of the Bonati-system seems to be present. In this system, one degree of arc equals one year.

   Leoni discusses an analysis by Pierre Gassendi of Nostradamus’ predictions regarding Antonius Suffredus, born on January 13, 1543 in Salon-de-Provence.¹⁵ Nostradamus predicted that Suffredus would suffer from dysenteria. He might have based this on the square of the Bonati-Sun in Aquarius with Saturn in Scorpio. The prediction that Suffredus would inherite from a stranger, might have been based on a conjunction of the Bonati-Sun in Aquarius with the Caput Draconis.

   About divine revelation, Nostradamus wrote to Cesar and Henry II that he does not consider himself as a prophet.¹⁸ The Letter to Cesar shows that he belongs to those who God chose to receive knowledge about the future.¹⁹ In the Epistle to Henry II, he formulates this more clearly by referring to Joël 3,1 : I will pour out my spirit on all flesh, your sons and daughters will prophesy.²⁰

   The contents of the revelations are phrased in the quatrains as the scenes in which occurs disasters, wars etc. These revelations also contain details about the places of fulfilment, which might point to remarks like castles, prisons, etc.²¹

   One can only guess about the nature of the “inspirations”. Perhaps Nostradamus refers to his use of mythological names or the names of historic persons.

   Judiciary astrology served two purposes. With judiciary astrology, Nostradamus determined the place of fulfilment of a quatrain and the date of fulfilment. He stated this most clearly in the Epistle: most of the quatrains are according to astronomical [astrological] calculations 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.²² In the Letter to Cesar, there are also many references to these functions of judiciary astrology.

   In the Letter to Cesar, Nostradamus wrote a couple of times that his “prophetic activity” took place in the night. Most clearly, this can be read near the end of this Letter, when Nostradamus writes about “diverse nocturnal apparitions”.²³

   In the NAB-project, the thesis regarding an astrological structure in the Centuries is based on these quotations. The thesis is that Nostradamus made a horoscope after a revelation in order to determine the time and place of fulfilment. This has been named: the “horary chart system”, analogue to horary astrology, by which the astrologer finds an answer to a question by drawing a chart for the moment the question is posed. Nostradamus had to answer the questions where and when the revelation would occur. He calculated fulfilment data by applying the CD4-system. He determined places of fulfilment by means of traditional topocentric astrology, as developed by Ptolemy.²⁴ The horary charts are supposed to be calculated for the time of the revelation and the place where Nostradamus was at the time of the revelation.

   At first sight, the horary chart system seems to be a system on which all quatrains are based. This is not the case. Nostradamus wrote in the Epistle that he used judiciary astrology for the majority of the quatrains.²⁵ To some quatrains, the horary chart system cannot be applied. Among others, the quatrains 01-01 and 01-02, considered as the ones who deal with the prophetic activities of Nostradamus, belong to this group of quatrains, as well as the quatrains 01-48 and 10-74, which deal with the millennium model.²⁶ These quatrains could have been composed on any day between October 16, 1524, and February 27, 1554.

   In the case of the quatrains, astrology does not refer to the nature of the predicted event. The nature of the predicted events is based on the contents of revelations. If the revelation points to an earthquake, the quatrain is about an earthquake. If the revelation points to famine, the quatrain is about famine. It does not matter what events are indicated by the horary chart, because in the case of the Centuries Nostradamus did not apply judiciary astrology in order to determine the nature of the events. In the case of the Almanachs, astrology served to determine the “what”, the “when” and the “where” of the predictions. In the case of the Centuries, astrology only served to determine the “when” and “where”.

   This finding shines new light on the “legis cautio”.²⁷ In this warning against inept critics, all astrologers were told to keep themselves away. The results of the NAB-project show that traditional judiciary astrology is not suited to analyse the quatrains, since the “what” is not a matter of judiciary astrology, but a matter of divine revelation.

   In traditional judiciary astrology, as practiced by Nostradamus in the case of the Almanachs, predictions are based on exact aspects. The composing process of the quatrains is: (a) revelation, (b) inspiration and (c) judiciary astrology. The moment of a revelation does not necessarily coincide with an exact aspect. There might be a large orb (deviation of an aspect), up to for example 17 degrees of arc in the case of a conjunction. There might be no aspect at all present. In the NAB-project, it has been supposed that references to aspects are references to either exact aspects or aspects which are almost exact. However, this uncertainty is the reason why it is impossible to get precise data from the horary chart system.

   Quatrain 08-49
The first line: Saturn in Bull, Jupiter in water, Mars in the arrow. The composing date: August 11, 1527, with Saturn in Taurus, Jupiter in Cancer and Mars in Sagittarius. The fulfilment date, February 6, 1773, corresponds with the second line: sixth of February will bring mortality. According to the CD4-system, this prediction is expired. It was not fulfilled.

   Quatrain 09-55
The fourth line: fire Mercury, Mars, Jupiter in France. This is an allusion to a triple conjunction of Mercury, Mars and Jupiter in Leo, which sign rules France. On july 15, 1528, the composing date, these planets were also conjunct the Sun in Leo. According to the CD4-system, this prediction is expired. It was not fulfilled.

   Quatrain 09-73
The fourth line: Sun, Mars and Mercury near the Urn. This is a reference to a triple conjunction of Sun, Mars and Mercury close to the 8th degree of Virgo, the beginning of the constellation Crater.²⁸

   Quatrain 08-48
The first line: Saturn in Cancer, Jupiter with Mars. In the imagination period, the exact Mars / Jupiter conjunction while Saturn was in Cancer, occurred only once : on December 26, 1532. The fulfilment date, February 10, 2189, corresponds with the second line: In February Chaldondon salvaterre.

   According to Leoni, the German commentator Christian Wöllner, who examined also the astrological references in the quatrains, but for the period 1555 - 3797, stated that such a configuration would not occur in this period. The most close Mars / Jupiter conjunction while Saturn is in Cancer, will occur around February 2769.²⁹

   Quatrain 04-86
The first two lines : Sun conjunct Saturn in a water sign, i.e. one of the signs Cancer, Scorpio or Pisces. Several dates are possible. Chosen is July 12, 1534, when this conjunction occurred on the last degree of Cancer, opposite Jupiter retrograde in Capricorn.

   Quatrain 06-04
The fourth line : Saturn, Leo, Mars, Cancer in plunder. This is a reference to Sun in Capricorn opposite Mars retrograde in Cancer while the Moon in Taurus squared Saturn retrograde in Leo.

   Quatrain 03-96
The fourth line : Saturn retrograde on February 13. Such a retrograde position occurred on February 13, 1535, and February 13, 1536. The latter one has been chosen as the composing date, since Saturn was squaring the Moon in Scorpio.

   Quatrain 05-14
The first line : Saturn and Mars in Leo; Spain captive. This is a reference to a Mars/Saturn conjunction in Leo, which occurred on May 20, 1536. The MC of the horary chart is in Sagittarius, which sign rules Spain. Jupiter, the ruler of Sagittarius, squares the Caput Draconis.

   Quatrain 06-24
The first two lines : Mars and “the sceptre” will be conjunct, under Cancer calamitous war. The “sceptre” is an allusion to Jupiter. The first two lines refer to a Mars/Jupiter conjunction in Cancer. In the imagination period, this conjunction occurred only once: on August 11, 1539.

   Quatrain 01-52
The first line : the two wicked ones conjunct in Scorpio. The “two wicked ones” is an allusion to Mars and Saturn, the malefics among the seven classic planets. The first line refers to a Mars / Saturn conjunction in Scorpio.

   Quatrain 04-33
The full text :

   This quatrain contains various astrological indications, not only regarding the configuration which is involved, but also regarding the horary chart on which this quatrain is founded.

   In the first line, two conjunctions are given: a Venus / Jupiter conjunction and a Moon / Jupiter conjunction. The Venus / Jupiter conjunction is more full than the Moon / Jupiter conjunction.

   The second line indicates a location of Jupiter in the twelfth house of the horary chart, close to the Ascendant. It also means that the sun comes next to Jupiter.

   The third and fourth line indicate a disharmonic aspect of Venus and Mars.

   In the imagination period, a configuration which fits to all this, occurred on November 4, 1542. The zodiacal longitude of Jupiter was the 20th degree of Libra, conjunct Venus on the 22nd degree and the Moon on the 6th degree. Venus was in square aspect with Mars on the 26th degree of Capricorn. The Sun was on the 22nd degree of Scorpio, after Jupiter.

   This quatrain is sometimes interpreted as a prediction of the discovery of Neptune in 1846. The results of the NAB-project, as described here, do not support such an interpretation.

   Quatrain 01-51
In French, the first line reads : Chef d’Aries, Jupiter et Saturne. Translated, this means: the ruler of Aries, Jupiter and Saturn. Mars is the ruler of Aries. The first line refers to a triple conjunction of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. This occurred on February 8, 1544, with Jupiter on the last degree of Scorpio, Saturn on the second degree of Sagittarius and Mars on the sixth degree of Sagittarius. France and Italy, mentioned in the fourth line, are indicated by the Moon in Leo squaring Jupiter in Scorpio.

   According to Brind’Amour, the first line refers to a Jupiter / Saturn conjunction in the first degrees of Aries in 1703 and Nostradamus copied an interpretation by Roussat, orienting himself to the cycle of Jupiter / Saturn conjunctions as described by Albumasar.³⁰ Brind’Amour interprets the word chef as head, referring to Caput Arietis.

   This interpretation is subject to several objections. First, Roussat does not write chef d’Aries, but pres la teste d’Aries, which means : close to the head of Aries. This is not a reference to the beginning degrees of the zodiacal sign of Aries, but a reference to a bundle of Fixed Stars, part of the constellation Aries which is called “Caput Arietis”, the “head”. In the lifetime of Nostradamus and Roussat, this part was located on the last degrees of the zodiacal sign of Aries. One must also keep in mind that Roussat did not write “in the head of Aries”, but “close to the head of Aries”, which means : before the last degrees of the zodiacal sign of Aries.

   The conjunction did not occur in 1703 as Brind’Amour supposed, but on May 15, 1702, the year mentioned by Roussat (and quoted by Brind’Amour), on the 6th degree of Aries.

   Quatrain 01-16
The first line : the “scythe” joined with the “pond” in the direction of Sagittarius. The “scythe” is an allusion to Saturn, the “pond” is an allusion to Jupiter. The first line refers to a Jupiter / Saturn conjunction close to Sagittarius, i.e. in the last degrees of Scorpio. In the imagination period, this occurred on September 18, 1544, on the 29th degree of Scorpio. The fulfilment date, July 30, 3096, corresponds with the fourth line which reads that the century approaches its renewal. 3096 is close to the transition of the 31st century into the 32nd.

   According to Brind’Amour, the first line refers to a Jupiter / Saturn conjunction in Sagittarius in 1641 and Nostradamus copied an interpretation by Roussat, again orienting himself to the cycle of Jupiter / Saturn conjunctions as described by Albumasar.³¹

   Quatrain 04-84
The fourth line refers to a conjunction of Mars, the Sun and Venus in the summer. In the imagination period, such a conjunction occurred only once : July 29, 1545, with Venus on the 14th degree of Leo, the Sun on the 15th degree and Mars on the 18th degree.

   Quatrain 08-02
The third line : Sun and Mars conjoined in Leo. Such a conjunction occurred on August 5, 1545, on the 23rd degree of Leo.

   Quatrain 04-67
The first line : Saturn and Mars equally “combust”. This refers to a configuration, in which Mars, Saturn and the Caput Draconis are in one and the same sign. In the imagination period, this occurred only once : on February 8, 1546. Mars, Saturn and the Caput Draconis were all located on the 24th degree of Sagittarius.

   Quatrain 02-48
The second line : Saturn in Sagittarius, Mars turning from the fish. This is interpreted as a change of direction movement of Mars in Pisces. This occurred on October 8, 1546, when Mars started to move direct instead of retrograde.

   Quatrain 10-67
In this quatrain, a very detailed configuration is given: Saturn, Capricorn, Jupiter, Mercury in Bull, Venus also, Cancer, Mars. This all occurred on May 9, 1549: Saturn in Capricorn, Jupiter, Mercury and Venus in Taurus and Mars in Cancer. The fulfilment date, May 6, 3455, corresponds with the first line, which read that there will be a very mighty trembling in the month of May.

   Brind’Amour interpreted this quatrain as a description of an earthquake which occurred in the region of Montelimar on May 4, 1549, followed by a serious hail shower some days later.³²

   The findings about the application of astrology indicate that astrology is the chronological clue for most quatrains (although only a few contain astrological references). The order of the quatrains has been made at random, shattered.

   In the case of the second set of predictions to Henry II, Nostradamus used another prediction system: the CD100-system, and another reference period: December 31, 1605 - February 24, 1607.³³ It is possible that he got more than 900 visions in for example 1554, and next made calculations, using ephemeredes from the period 1524 - 1554. But such a method does not make sense, astrologically. The findings about the application of astrology indicate that the imagination period was between October 1524 and February 1554. Nostradamus started to elaborate his revelations after the birth of Cesar, i.e. after October 11, 1553.³⁴ While working on the NAB-project, no answer has been found to the question why Nostradamus decided to publish his Centuries in parts. But there are strong indications that all centuries were composed by October 1553.

   The findings of the NAB-project lead to the conclusion that Nostradamus knew nothing about the existence of transsaturnal planets. He used the seven classic planets (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn), the Caput Draconis and the Fixed Stars. One should keep in mind that a configuration has been discovered which fits to the astrological references in quatrain 04-33, which configuration has nothing to do with the discovery of Neptune.

   The findings show that Nostradamus uses several astrological techniques for various purposes (Centuries, Almanachs, natal charts). One can not escape the fact that the quality of his astrological calculations are sometimes dubious, but considering the fact that a number of configurations in the quatrains are quite unique, I tend to the hypothesis that his skills have decreased after around 1554. The construction of the millennium model shows a precise, pinpoint date structure.

   The findings did not confirm theories about physical or mental handicaps of Nostradamus.

Bibliography

      - Brind’Amour, P. : L’astrologie chez Nostradamus, http://cura.free.fr/xxv/22brinda.html (1993).

      - Brind’Amour, P. : Les premières centuries ou prophéties, Genève, 1996.

      - Chevignard, B. : Présages de Nostradamus, Saint-Amand, 1999.

      - Leoni, E. : Nostradamus and his Prophecies, New York, 1982 (1961).

      - Nostradamus, M. : Les prophéties, Lyon, 1568, Lyon, 2000.

      - Roussat, R. : Livre de l’estat et mutation des temps, Paris, 1981 (1550).

Notes

¹ NAB : Nostradamus, astrology and the Bible. Retour