Nostradamus on the Future of Humanity in Deep Space
Report Topics:
- The famed sixteenth century French seer prophesied many of the important future events concerning our colonization of the Moon, Mars and the local star systems
Full Report:
Among the most fascinating of the famous French seer’s sixteenth century prophetic verses are those which give us a glimpse into the near and far future concerning our inevitable leap into the vast stretches of space. From our first baby steps on the Moon to our destined exploration and colonization of the nearby planets and star systems, Nostradamus gave us a roadmap and a timetable of where and when we shall expand into the rest of the surrounding unverse. Here are the prophet’s key quatrains and prose he offered on our great cosmic journey before us.
Dedans le coin de Luna viendra rendre,
Où sera pris et mis en terre étrange:
Les fruits immûrs seront grand esclandre,
Grand vitupère, l’un grande louange.
Century IX, Quatrain 65
He will be transported to a corner of the Moon,
Where he will land and set foot on another world, a strange and alien soil (Neil Armstrong in 1969),
Others who will follow, unprepared to leave, plucked before their time, subject of great scandal,
Great blame for some for the tragedy, for others great praise.
The significant description here is in the first two lines, where we have the accurate portrayal of Neil Armstrong in 1969, and those fellow American astronauts in the years that followed during the 1970’s, who likewise were part of the initial venture to the lunar surface. This was accomplished with only a few minor mishaps—such as the Apollo 13 near disaster—but thankfully if not miraculously with no loss of life.
It is in the last two lines, however, that Nostradamus predicts “others will follow”—after a long hiatus of several decades, not just the United States but now several other nations are actively planning to go to the Moon, this time with the long-term goal of establishing permanently inhabited bases.
As of this writing, both Japan and India have sent orbiting space probes into lunar orbit, China has launched astronauts into space with a Moon landing scheduled for farther in the future, the European Union is gearing up to fulfill an equally ambitious space program that likewise has its eye on the Moon, Russia who is still active in launching its cosmonauts skyward is also looking at re-entering the space race in the direction of our nearest neighbor in space, and America has announced it is preparing for its next wave of manned explorations to the lunar surface, this time to stay. Adding to this new mix are several private and commercial groups who are actively seeking to go to the Moon for their own profitable business concerns.
However, the French prophet warns that, because these new exploits are going to be far more complicated and will involve new forms of unproven technology—not to mention the training of new generations of untested astronauts who will be faced with unprecedented challenges—there no doubt will be dangers and fatalities awaiting not just a few of the lunar pioneers to come. Some of the deaths, as in any large-scale government-run or corporate enterprises, will be the result of human blunders that will cause major scandals. But in the end there will also be “great praise” for what will be eventually accomplished—members of the family of Earth living and working together on our neighboring world.
D’humain troupeau neuf seront mis part,
De jugement et conseil séparés:
Leur sont sera divisé en départ,
Kappa, Thita, Lambda, mors bannis égarés.
Century I, Quatrain 81
Nine shall journey far from the rest of humanity (into space),
They shall be above reproach, then separated from all communications (electronics failure?),
Their fate will be determined on departure,
Kappa, Theta, Lambda (three astronauts’ initials?; also in Greek gematria K=20, Th= 9, L=30, or September, 2030 or 2039?), dead, abandoned, astray.
The prophetic story-line here is of nine astronauts who will all die together, very likely from a catastrophic power failure aboard their spacecraft—hinted at in line two—the cause of which will go undetected before they depart—line three—and resulting in their being left marooned and adrift—line four.
As of this writing, only six spacefarers at a time can inhabit the current Internatioinal Space Station, but by using several separate craft to get there. What Nostradamus foresees here instead is a single spacecraft that will have the capacity of carrying nine astronauts at once, something yet in our future. Nothing is said about which nation or nations these travelers will come from, or where their point of departure will originate. We do know that at some point in the future larger spacecraft are going to be built in space rather than on the Earth’s surface. So the coming tragic journey may involve a nine-passenger craft coming out of an orbiting construction dock that may one day be launched either toward the Moon or deep space exploration.
By far the most intriguing part of this prophetic verse is the last line, with the appearance of the enigmatic Greek letters Kappa, Theta and Lambda. On one level, perhaps these may be the letter designation of the spacecraft itself—KTL or a combination thereof—or the last-name initials of the commander, pilot of co-pilot for the crew. On a deeper level, in the ancient Greek language letters were used as numbers, and in Greek gematria or letter-number exchanges, these translate into Kappa = 20, Theta = 9, and Lambda = 30. Do we have a clue here of a possible date for this space catastrophe—either September, 2030 or the year 2039? Very notable is the fact that NASA presently has on its drawing boards designs for larger spacecraft that will have passenger capacities up to 9 or 10 crew members, scheduled to be ready for use between 2030 and 2040.
Quand seront proches le défaut des lunaires,
De l’un l’autre ne distant grandement,
Froid, sic cite, danger vers les frontiéres,
Même où l’oracle a pris commencement.
Century III, Quatrain 4
When they (approaching spacecraft carrying needed supplies) will be close, the lunar ones (a lunar colony or moon base) will fail (suffer a major power failure?),
From one another not greatly distant (they can see each other from orbit),
Danger from coldness (no heat), dryness (no water or air) (the rescuers) will reach their frontier (land at the edge of their base),
In that place which has always been the inspiration of prophecy (the Moon).
Près, loin défaut de deux grands luminaries
Qui surviendra entre l’Avril et Mars:
O quel cherté! mais deux grands débonnaires
Par terre et mer secourront toutes parts.
Century III, Quatrain 5
So near yet so far from the failure (of the lunar colony) two great luminaries (approaching spacecraft),
Will journey forth, one in March and the other in April,
There will be a loss (of life), but the two well-traveled ones,
Across the (lunar) terrain and seas (mares) they will bring relief to all parts (all colonists).
These two Nostradamian verses are to be read together, because they reveal a potential disaster and its eventual relief to take place farther in the future, when one or more permanent bases are finally established on the Moon. Again, we are given no indications as to the identity of the nation or nations inhabiting the bases, or who will be responsible for the rescue missions to save the bases from certain death.
In the first quatrain we are told of a mysterious group called des lunaires or “the lunar ones” who appear to be attempting to survive in a very hostile environment, toward which someone else is trying to reach them with desperately needed supplies. If we were to apply strictly sixteenth century symbolism to deciphering these elements, then the “lunar ones” might be interpreted as the Moslems of North Africa or the Middle East, whose major political and religious icon was a crescent moon.
But it is the last line of the first verse which better identifies the real location of these events—”that place which has always been the inspiration of prophecy.” This was Nostradamus’ poetic way of pinpointing the mystical traditional source of the tides, the monthly cycle of women, and the waxing and waning of predictable world events—the Moon itself. This revelation takes the context for this verse out of the sixteenth century and squarely puts it instead in the twenty-first or twenty-second centuries, when we anticipate that “lunar ones” will be literal residents on the actual Moon.
At that future time, there is prophesied to be a general centralized power or equipment failure of some sort that will severely curtail the production of vitally needed heat, water and air to keep all the lunar bases survivable. The second verse gives greater details of a rescue mission involving two separate launchings a month apart, each with supplies and repair personnel that will reach their lunar destinations barely in time, but not without a few losses of life in the process.
Cydron, raguse la cité au saint Hieron,
Reverdira le medicant secours:
Mort fils de Roi par mort de deux heron,
L’arabe hongie front un même cours.
Century X, Quatrain 63
Cydonia, region of Ares (Mars) (where is) the city of sacred Mysteries (the Martian pyramids and great face),
With healing help (the planet) will grow green again (to be terra-formed),
Dead son of the Leader because of the death of two birds (vehicles) flown from Earth,
Ignorance and hunger will make the same orbit.
With this prophecy we jump yet farther into the future, with the focus on the foundation of a human colony on the planet Mars. In the first line, the word raguse is an anagrammic syncope for reg. ares or “region of Mars.” The specific region referred to is “Cydron,” the medieval French form for “Cydonia.” On Earth this is found on the coast of modern Libya, and is a most insignificant stretch of desert landscape. But on Mars the location called Cydonia became famous in 1972 when an orbiting Mariner spacecraft photographed here a huge face and nearby pyramids jutting out of the Martian terrain. Later enhanced photographic surveys revealed that, in the center of the Cydonian pyramid complex, there are the tell-tale signs of a ruined city, estimated to be nearly one and a half million years old. Nostradamus called this la cité au saint hieron, or “the city of the sacred hieron”—a syncope for hierophant or a teacher of the ancient Mysteries. The prophet was thus identifying Cydonia to one day be a place that will reveal the answers to some of the greatest enigmas not only of the past of Mars, but also of the forgotten history of our own planet as well.
Perhaps it will be the secrets of this lost Martian city that will help supply the human colonists from Earth the means by which they will fulfill their greatest goal. Line two suggests that, at one point in the far future, the new inhabitants of Mars will succeed in terra-forming the planet with a better livable environment. Recent survey rover vehicles criss-crossing the alien terrain have found evidence of ice and water just underneath the surface, plus a tremendous amount of oxygen and other atmospheric gases that long ago became locked away in the Martian soil. Scientists believe if these could be re-released in a planet-wise regenerative process, then all of Mars could one day become more Earth-like, with oceans, rivers and a breathable atmosphere in which life could grow again.
However, such a commendable endeavor will not be without its sacrifices. The last two lines allude to a tragedy in a coming mission to Mars—a celebrity astronaut, son of a prominent political leader, who will die while in orbit, unable to be saved by two rescue attempts that will not reach him in time.
Car encore que la planète de Mars parachève son siècle, et la fin de son dernier période, si le reprendra il: mais assemblés les uns en Aquarius par plusieurs années, les autres en Cancer par lus longues et continues.
Et main tenant que sommes conduits par la Lune, moyennant la total puissance de Dieu eternel, qu’avant qu’elle aie parachevé son total circuit, le Soleil viendra, et puls Saturne.
Preface to César
“For those who shall inhabit Mars, they will finish its great cycle (6,870 years), and at the end of its last period, it will start again (A.D. 2000 + 6,870 years = A.D. 8780). Some will first assemble (colonize) there during the Age of Aquarius (beginning in the 21st century) for the designated years (until 8780); others will come again in the more distant Age of Cancer (A.D. 17,400 to A.D. 19,600) for an even longer time.
“In our present Age (Pisces), by means of power sources given to us by the eternal God (nuclear fusion?) we shall be led to go first to the Moon (fulfilled in A.D. 1969; with the new power source to be fulfilled in the 21st century and beyond); then before the Sun has completed her cycle (A.D. 2000 + 3,650 years = A.D. 5650) we shall travel the entire circuit of the Sun (to all the planets within the solar system); the Sun cycle will come, then one of Saturn (A.D. 2000 + 3,650 + 2,950 = A.D. 8600 (beginning of the Age of Scorpio).”
In one of his few prose prophecies—his “Preface” to his son, César, which he wrote in 1555 when the child was only an infant—Nostradamus spelled out humanity’s outreach to not only the Moon and Mars, but to all the planets and moons within our solar system. He utilized what in esoteric terms are called Grand Astrological Years, or large spans of time based on the orbital lengths of the various planets, to prophesy the future periods when human colonies will occupy these worlds over the next six millennia. Then there will be a hiatus of time when all colonies will be abandoned, followed by another wave of human migration to the planets in the more distant future, from 17,000 to 20,000 A.D.
Croîtra le nombre si grand des astronomes
Chassé, bannis et livres censures:
L’an mil six cent et sept par sacrées glomes,
Que nul aux sacres ne seront assures.
Century VIII, Quatrain 71
There will be so great a number of astra-nomads (star travelers),
Who will chase upwards, banishing themselves, severely endangering their lives (among the stars),
The year 1,607 (added to 1557 or A.D. 3164) by the holy (ones) assembled (a body of minds joined together in collective telepathy),
None of the sacred (gathering) will be assured (of having made successful contact).
The key to interpreting this quatrain is the word astronomes in the first line, which most Nostradamian commentators have mistakenly identified as “astronomers.” But in reality it is a fusion of two words—astra or star, and a form of the word nomad, meaning wanderers or migrants. They together create the appellation “star travelers,” which very accurately summarizes what the majority of humanity will become more than a thousand years from now. Beyond the Moon, Mars and other orbs within our solar system, our distant descendants shall fly farther out yet, literally losing themselves among the worlds that circle nearby stars. In time, these outward expansions will go unrecognized and unrecorded by those few who shall remain on Terra Prime, as their obsessively nomadic children leave the home nest en masse to explore and exploit dangerous new frontiers never before thought possible to survive.
According to lines three and four, this is what Nostradamus foresees will be the state of affairs for those left behind on Earth in the year A.D. 3164. In his “Preface to César,” he indicated that any numerical figure he gave in his writings was meant to be automatically added to the year in which the prediction itself was written. In the case here, “the year 1,607” referred to that many years beyond 1557, pointing to the future year 3164. At that time will assemble a body of “holy ones” or those with advanced telepathic powers, who by their very act of coming together will join their minds collectively with the intention of seeking to open psychic communications with the lost human colonies of deep space.
Yet, as the last line suggests, such a gathering will not be able to produce conclusive results. The whereabouts of the farflung descendants of humanity among the stars will remain obscured, as they move yet farther out into the depths of the universe.
Beaucoup, beaucoup avant telles menées
Ceux d’Orient par la vertu lunaire:
L’an mil sept cent feront grands emmenées,
Subjugant presque le coin Aquilonaire.
Century I, Quatrain 49
Very, very much forward (into the future) from present-day events,
Those of the Orient (the Far East) by virtue (in cooperation) with those of (or who inhabit) the Moon (lunar colonists),
The year 1,700 from now (A.D. 3257) they will cause many great ones to be taken far (to be transported),
Bringing under their settlement a corner (quadrant) of (the constellation) Aquarius.
Lines two and three of the verse here suggests that, by the 33rd century, a good segment of the burgeoning population of the Moon will be descendants from the earliest Oriental colonists, which suggests that China, Japan and other present nations of the Far East will be among the first to establish lunar bases. Just as these peoples are among the fastest growing in numbers on Earth, so the same development may occur on the Moon, with the result that from time to time both terrestrial and lunar populations may need to move on to other available living places deeper in space. Over a thousand years from now, even the planetary colonies in our solar system may become crowded, and the only location open to new frontiers for large groups of people to develop will be among the stars.
In 3257, Nostradamus prophesies, Orientals from both the Earth and the Moon will embark on a major expedition to the extrasolar planets within the star systems of the constellation Aquarius. Undoubtedly by this time some form of stellar drive will have been invented and utilized that will make travel across several light years of space possible.
It just so happens that in 1999 astronomers discovered an extra solar planet among the stars of Aquarius that was designated HD 222582. It is described as a water cloud orb, with an average surface temperature of minus 38 degrees F, having an oval orbit of 576 days, and is located within the habitable zone around its star. With a focused effort of terraforming, this planet—situated 137 light-years from our Sun—could be made livable and support life.
Nearer to home, being only 15.4 light-years from us, is the red star Gliese 876, located in Aquarius that has three planets circling it. The third orb, discovered in 2005, is the most terrestrial-like, depicted as cloudless and blue, with a mass approximately 7.5 times that of Earth, and a surface temperature much hotter. Here again, with some applied terraforming it too could be made habitable and comfortable for human settlement.
That these far distant regions in the Aquarius star field will be the focus for future colonization was also designated as such by Nostradamus in this line from the “Preface to César”:
Mais assemblés les uns en Aquarius par plusieurs années, les autres en Cancer par lus longues et continues.
Preface to César
“Some members of humanity will inhabit the stars of Aquarius for many ages before moving on, while others will reside among the stars of Cancer for a longer period, and then forever more.”
Not without significance, in 2007 a new extrasolar planet was discovered orbiting a sun-like star 41 light years away from Earth, making it the first known planetary quintet outside our solar system. The newfound planet joins four others already detected circling the nearby star 55 Cancri in the constellation Cancer. It resides in the star’s habitable zone, a place where liquid water and mild temperatures should exist, though the planet itself appears to be much larger than our own. According to co-discoverer Debra Fischer, an astronomer at San Francisco State University, this planetary system in Cancer appears to be “packed with planets,” and provides one of the best possible locations for settlement worlds within our immediate stellar neighborhood.
Is this only coincidence, or did Nostradamus accurately predict that both the constellations Aquarius and Cancer do indeed contain habitable planets that will someday be called home by our future offspring, who will reach them and prosper on their alien landscapes in the millennia yet to come?
[Copyright 2009. Joseph Robert Jochmans. All Rights Reserved.]
