Forgotten Ages Research

The Nostradamus Keys to Decipherment—Toward Future Fulfillment

Report Topics:

• We have the power to change the future and the time to change the future is now
• Prophecy offers us a glimpse of what we can build for, and what we can avoid—to give us knowledge of the fuller spectrum of possible futures before us
• With knowledge comes responsibility, with responsibility comes choice, and with choice comes the future of our own making
• There is no greater power than our ability to choose

Full Report:

We have the power to change the future.

The time to change the future is now.

But before we can make any changes, we need to first decide on what future we want, and what our choices are.

Prophecy is the window which shows us what potentialities for the future exist, good and bad.

Prophecy offers us a glimpse of what we can build for, and what we can avoid.

And that is the purpose of prophecy—to give us knowledge of the fuller spectrum of possible futures before us.

With knowledge comes responsibility.

With responsibility comes choice.

And with choice comes the future of our own making.

There is no greater power than our ability to choose.

The story of my research into Nostradamus began when I was sixteen years old, living in upstate New York. One autumn day my parents picked up a curious, somewhat frayed and yellowed paperback at a local used book sale, for a quarter. It was entitled Nostradamus: The Future Foretold, by British author James Laver.

Being raised in a fundamentalist Christian household where the foreshadowings of the prophet Daniel and the Book of Revelations were as much topics of dinner conversation as the daily news, another volume on prophecy added to the family library was nothing unusual. What I found intriguing about this work, however, was that here were predictions made from outside the Biblical genre, yet which complemented many of the Bible’s portents and visions of things to come.

Within a very short time of discovering Nostradamus, books on the more modern forecasts of Jeane Dixon and Edgar Cayce also came to my attention. As a result, my early fascination with possible future realities took on whole new directions.

Yet through all my explorations down through four decades since that initial introduction, my avid preoccupation with the soothsayings of the old French prophet has never abated. Particularly as I matured and my horizons expanded to embrace more universal perspectives of knowledge and wisdom, I have been continually gaining new insights into Nostradamus’ words and imageries.

In essence, my appreciation of his prophecies keeps growing as I keep growing. Even now, over forty years later, I can still thumb through his verses and—based on what new events are happening in the world—I can discover something that speaks directly to the situation. This I firmly believe is the real key to understanding Nostradamus.

Many modern writers and commentators on the French seer’s forecastings of five centuries ago have usually taken a Procrustean approach, ever-searching for the “one true” interpretation that fits the “one true” particular event in history it appears to describe. But the more one studies, the more one realizes there are several potentialities of meaning, which can lead to several possible directions the prophecies can take. And that is the underlying nature of true prophecy itself.

When I wrote my first book on prophecy, Rolling Thunder: The Coming Earth Changes, back in the late 1970’s and first released by Sun Publishing in 1980, it was my belief that we were then entering an important “window” in prophetic time. Many of the prophecies—both of Nostradamus and from other visionaries past and present—had a very real potential of being imminently fulfilled. This also indicated that many of the age-old lessons humanity has so far refused to deal with could have come to a head at that time.

Now, of course, with the hindsight of looking back from two decades beyond, we can perceive that some of the forecasts were indeed fulfilled in the 1980’s and 1990’s, while some others were not, simply because certain lessons were learned and there was no need for the events to come about. New directions were chosen, and a different set of prophecies was fulfilled instead.

However, the greater majority of the unfulfilled prophecies for the 1980’s and 1990’s appear to have been only delayed. This likewise means that what lessons were avoided from that time period have now become accentuated and amplified over the passing years. Today, their more probable manifestation in the wider “window” of the early twenty-first century may yet prove to be experiences of even greater intensity and trauma.

To be sure, we still have the element of free will. We still have the option of squarely facing the lessons ahead of us, and completing them without world events exploding into greater proportions. But with each passing moment of our indecision to act, our future options are steadily diminishing. Inaction, in and of itself, is also a choice.

The French seer foresaw that what potentially happens in the early twenty-first century shall serve as the threshold for what could possibly take place—positive or negative—throughout the rest of this century and beyond, even into the far future stretching before us. This present moment is indeed a crucial time in human history. All that Nostradamus has done in his prophecies is set a mirror before us, to show us what different choices of pathways we can take, and which already exist inside of us.

In the final analysis, the true success of interpreting prophecy is that it be an art of failure. It is my sincere hope that, except for the forecasts of coming True World Peace and spiritual fulfillment for humanity, all the rest of the prophecies and their interpretations contained within this book and its companion that follows, will be proven utterly wrong.

If none of the disastrous events take place as outlined, then this will be the best of all possible signs that true prophecy has indeed served its intended purpose—to get people to transform themselves and the world, and thereby change the direction of history. Global tranquility and understanding are ours for the asking. It is only deciding how we want to achieve it—the easy way or in increasingly more difficult ways—that is our choice. As always, the final answers are up to us. The future is only what we wish it and take action for it to be, in every present moment of our lives, here and now.

In this pivotal time when humanity is moving from kriyanoia or actively awakened consciousness into metanoia or changed consciousness, it seems necessary for a few members to pass through paranoia along the way. As a result we are today beginning to see a steady increase in cases of eschatophobia—a fear of the ending of all things, and the need to somehow escape an imagined inevitable destruction. This is by no means an experience in which everyone is required to partake.

Many modern Nostradamian commentators usually regard Time as only being single-tracked, and are ever-searching for the “one true” interpretation that fits the “one true” particular event in history a prophecy appears to describe. But the more one studies what Nostradamus actually wrote in his original Old French verses, the more one realizes there are several potentialities of meaning which can lead to several possible directions the prophecies can take. The future is really multi-tracked, which is the underlying nature of true prophecy.

The words of the French seer compose more than a mere book of predictions. Reading Nostradamus is like reading the I Ching or taking a Rorschach inkblot test. It is not so much the prophecy that is important as what the prophecy invokes within the individual. The events being predicted are only future potentialities—they can be fulfilled or not fulfilled. What determines fulfillment is how the individual acts or does not act upon what is being predicted, whether or not the individual makes the choice to change the directions of events themselves.

True prophecy is thus meant to be, at key moments in history, a reflection of the hidden natures and motivations of human behavior on both the individual and collective levels, as well as future options. True prophecy is more than merely a forecast—its purpose is to provide the lesson to be learned behind a potential future event so that, if the lesson is accepted and processed beforehand, the course of the future can actually be changed and a different pathway of prophesied events can be manifested into reality.

As an example from the past, most everyone is familiar with the Bible story of Jonah and the whale, so often repeated in Sunday school. But most people forget or do not know the background to that story.

Jonah, as a seer, was commissioned by the Divine to prophesy to the citizens of Nineveh, the capital of ancient Assyria, concerning the imminent destruction of their city. At first Jonah refused to take the job, and tried to escape his responsibility by sailing away aboard ship in a direction away from Nineveh. The Divine had other plans, however. Jonah was washed overboard, a whale grabbed him and held him prisoner in its great mouth, and three days later spat the prophet out onto the seashore back near Nineveh.

After this unpleasant experience, Jonah decided to fulfill his appointed work, and soon began preaching to the Ninevites. He told them to change their ways, their minds and their habits for the better, or in forty days their great metropolis would succomb to sudden catastrophe. Day in and day out, Jonah continued to make his forecast to everyone who would listen.

Finally, after the allotted forty days were up, however, nothing happened. The sky refused to open up, the lightning would not fall, and Nineveh remained unconsumed.

Jonah, perplexed and somewhat annoyed that his prophesying had not come about, left the city and sat under a tree to sulk. After a while, the Divine came to him and showed him the real result of his labor. The people had listened to Jonah’s predictions, had decided to transform themselves, to live a more positive and productive way, and so there was no need for the prophesied destruction. The prophecy had failed in its fulfillment, but had won in getting people to change themselves, rather than let events around them force them to change.

The planet today is a modern Nineveh, and Nostradamus along with the other prophets of the world are the Jonahs walking up and down the streets, warning of coming upheaval and disorder. But whether the world at large will listen, like the Ninevites, and in so doing avert the forecasts—or the world will continue on its present pathway and suffer the full measure of tragic events outlined by the prophecies—that is the real and most pertinent question today.

Once our awareness reveals to us that a change is necessary, then the next step is to decide what is the better route that we should be taking. We know that the purpose of the coming Transition is to prepare us for the advent of a True Age of Peace. Therefore, it follows that the better route involves learning about this True Age of Peace now, and in effect going through a personal Transformation and beginning to live our daily lives as if we are already living in it. By doing so, we bypass the Transition altogether, and for us the True Age of Peace is already here.

The real goal, of course, is to multiply the personal Transformation several billion times, so that each and every inhabitant of planet Earth has undergone it. If such a world-wide collective Transformation by the action of self-will and self-realization took place, there would be no need for the prophesied Transition by destruction and upheaval. The world would have become the True Age of Peace on its own, rather than having to be nudged into it.

But the time to start this change to happen, to begin the Re-Creation of the world, is now, because the prophecies warn our clock is running out, when forces around us could push us over the edge, and the Transition process begins in earnest. Like Nineveh, our forty allotted days are almost up. What form the Transition will take, whether by our personal choice and change, or by drastic global alterations beyond our control, is always, ultimately, our decision alone to make.

In his day, Nostradamus wisely understood that governments and religions stubbornly uphold what is the status quo for the moment, resisting any changes which inevitably come from mass movements among the common people. For this reason he hid the true meanings of his prophecies in a series of cryptic words and symbols in order to protect himself.

One of the most important messages that emerges from Nostradamus’ prophecies for the twenty-first century is that we are now being given a wide spectrum of optional future time-lines to fulfill, many of which completely short-circuit modern predictions of violent “earth changes.” Nostradamus foresaw that we stand today at an important crossroads of choosing which set of prophecies we can experience. What potentially happens in the twenty-first century will serve as the threshold for what could possibly take place, positive or negative, throughout the full extent of the Third Millennium and stretching into the far future.

To be sure, there can be no question that changes are coming. As Nostradamus was well aware, changes are inevitable—the one element of Time that cannot be altered. Such necessary transformations come in cycles, just as the Earth has Her Spring and Summer, Fall and Winter. But as the prophet understood, the major choice we can make is the degree to which these changes may come into being, whether suddenly and violently or peacefully and tranquilly.

In essence, what Nostradamus focused on was both the best and worst case scenarios. On one hand, he forecast the inevitable collapse of humanity’s age-old dependencies on wealth and violence, and the disastrous consequences of our modern attempts at controlling the Earth, resulting in our pollution and aiding in global warming. On the other hand, the French seer also portrayed the advent of a True Age of Peace, one in which the people of the world will finally learn to live in harmony with themselves and with the planet.

Some interpreters of the prophet wrongly believe that it will not be until after we have gone through a period of wars, disastrous earth changes and other catastrophes that relief will finally come with the dawning of the True Age of Peace at a point far in the future. However, as Nostradamus really foresaw it, the more positive prophecies have the potential of being fulfilled not in the far future, but now, in our present day. We could, if we so wanted, completely cancel the negative prophecies and go directly to the True Age of Peace.

We have all the resources to accomplish this—the intelligence, the wisdom, the materials, the technology and science, the people to supply labor and direction as well as the global desire to see a better world created and built. The only thing needed is our choice and honest commitment to do so. That is the true message the prophet of five centuries ago made for our time period. Do we have the courage to listen and creative a positive, life-affirming future of our own making?

The forks in the road are upon us and the signs are pointing toward their respective pathways. Ironically, the most difficult roads are based on the easiest choice—do nothing, keep things the same, and allow everything to slide toward the drop-off point. The better roads are the ones that will take effort of will and the vision to see and act right now at this very minute. It is a vision and action that must be made by each individual first, before the collective will can be exercised.

Which time-line will it be? Which path do we take? The future is not coming—it is here. We are fulfilling it in everything we do or do not do now. In truth, as Nostradamus knew, we are, in every moment, our own prophecy being realized.

Here are a number of key concepts on what is the true nature of prophecy:

Misery is Optional. One of the basic laws of life is, whatever you focus on, that is what you empower. If all you see is disaster, then disaster is what you will live out in your life. The old world is dying all by itself—it does not need anyone’s help, unless you wish to die with it. If you believe in the imminent end of the world, then for you it will end. You are what you prophesy.

The Future is Multi-tracked. The key to the future is that a fuller spectrum of choices exists, and that all of us have the very real power to actually change the time-line ahead for the better, for ourselves and for the planet. These multiple pathways to the future cannot be easily mapped because they are constantly being made, and the act of making them transforms both the mapmaker and the destination.

The Time of Potential World Peace is Here Right Now. All that is needed is the right vision, commitment, will, love strength and hard work—by everyone living and being in the Age of True Peace, here and now. And this Age of Peace begins first inside each one of us.

Catastrophic Events Do Not Have to Happen. If each and every person the world over Transformed themselves into a citizen of a New Earth, joining in harmony together as a New Humanity—what need would there be for earthquakes, or plagues, or an Antichrist, or an Armageddon? It happens the moment you stop believing in the old world with its inevitable self-destruction, and by not putting your energies into feeding its fears and angers any longer. Re-direct the flow of your energies to become a Builder of a New Earth and a New Humanity, giving birth to a positive future from deep inside yourself, from your Spirit center.

Yes, “Karma” or Imbalances Exist. They are the undercurrents which still cause age-old problems in the present world. But can we not complete these patterns of inter-relationship through a new honoring of each other’s sacredness, rather than through continued methods of self-defeating retribution and retaliation? You do not bring balance by tipping the scales for or against one side or the other. Instead, you move to the third point of synthesis, the fulcrum point, the place of centeredness, connectedness and stillness on the scales, where perfect balance can be achieved. And the location of that place is within you, within all of us, if we would only have the courage to enter there and truly be One together.

The Future is Not Fixed or Inevitable. Its manifestation is conditional upon your state of consciousness at the present moment, and what choices you make or do not make. A positive prophecy is meant to be self-fulfilling. A negative prophecy that is completely fulfilled is a prophecy that has failed to change those involved. By choosing to change yourself, you change the course of things to come. With knowledge comes responsibility. With responsibility comes choice. And with choice comes the future of your own making.

Changes are Coming. That changes are coming in the future, there can be no question. Change is inevitable. The crucial choice we can make is the degree to which these changes may come into being. Will you be forced into change because of your resistance to the flow of events around you, or do you work with the flow, and become a force of positive change yourself?

Discernment is All that is Important. Like is attracting like. What destruction and death may yet happen in the world will be brought about by those who will stubbornly refuse to open to the Transformational processes now going on within themselves, and who have no vision beyond destruction as their personal and collective destiny. You must let these people fulfill what they have chosen, for no one can change them except themselves. Let them go. Let their future go. It is not your future, unless you want it to be. You have a far better future option to bring into existence. If you envision a positive future as a Builder, then those who resonate with your future will be drawn to you, to realize your future collectively.

You are the Future. In truth, you can become nothing more than the prophecies you create, for what you create shall become your own prophecies fulfilled. Over and over again Nostradamus and the various other prophets through the ages have shown us that we have it within our power of choice to attain to a True Age of Peace, and that we can do it either by going through a terrible Time of Trouble, in which we lose practically everything, or by letting go of what needs to be let go, and simply experiencing a far easier period of tranquil Transition and Transformation. By what many of the prophecies reveal, especially at issue is how we deal with matters of fear and control.

The majority of humanity still seems to be plagued with the fundamental concept that anyone who is different from us is someone to be feared—if richer or poorer on a primary level, if of a different political persuasion below the surface, if of another culture or race on a deeper level, or if of another religion or philosophical belief on the deepest level of all.

The reaction to such fears, unfortunately, is our attempt to control or suppress—the wealthy and the poor vying with one another for economic power, one political party defeating another, cultures or races enslaving each other, and bloodshed spilled in wars fought over religion and dogma.

But such attempts at control are illusory, for they only breed further fear and hatred, leading to increasingly greater levels of struggle and aggression, death and destruction. As one side of each issue gains the upper hand, it only leads to an imbalance that sooner or later will swing violently toward the other direction in reaction. It is a vicious cycle that in some cases, between some peoples, has lasted unbroken for thousands of years.

There are only two answers to this dilemma of fear and control. The first, and simplest, is to start with the basic concept and change it. What change can we make? By moving from what is termed diadic to triadic thinking.

Most of humanity is locked into the pattern of diadic thinking, of looking at our world in terms of “either-or,” of dividing reality into two parts: upper and lower class, uptown and downtown, north and south, east and west, left and right, free enterprise or communism, Republican or Democrat, big and small, male and female, white and black, red and yellow, Protestant and Catholic, Buddhist and Hindu—and other such self-created dualities and polarities. The problem with this mode of thinking is that we tend to identify with one side as opposed to the other, which inevitably causes division and separation.

But if we move into another kind of perspective, one of triadic thinking, then our attitudes can shift. The simple equation for this is 1 + 1 = 3. There is the one, and there is the other, but together the two create a third entity. This is not merely an attempt at finding a compromise between the two. Rather, it is discovering and appreciating a third point of synthesis which exists above the plane of duality and polarity—the apex on a triangle of understanding and true harmony.

By seeking this third point, people are not looking for what makes each other different, but instead what makes them similar, what is it they share in common and can enjoy together. In the plant kingdom there are many different kinds of leaves—oak, palm, fern, vine, tulip—yet there is a certain “leafness” that binds them all together by structure and purpose.

The same holds true among the various aspects of humanity, if we so allow it to be expressed. Among both the wealthy and the poverty-stricken, is there not a common desire for basic needs fulfilled, by which both could profit from through cooperation instead of competition? Among all political persuasions, is there not a shared vision of world peace and security? Among all races and cultures, is there not a basic wish to be able to have the freedom for their own individuality of expression? And among all religions and philosophies, is there not a oneness in the belief in God and humanity as God’s children?

If what is held in common could be the primary focus, then what differences exist become like facets of the same diamond—each reflects its own light in its own way, yet each is regarded as a necessary variation of the whole, without which the one diamond could not glitter and glisten to its fullness. Both similarity and differences play a role, yet are still at harmony with the whole.

At work also is the larger issue of how we are to regard the Earth and the Cosmos in which we live. Increasingly, we are becoming aware of the simple fact that if we ourselves are out of balance, then we become the source—through our consciousness connection with all else—which creates imbalance in the planet and in the heavens. With every action comes a reaction in the Universe at large, part of a self-correcting mechanism which brings all things back into proper balance and harmony, one way or another.

Again, however, if through triadic thinking we find and express an overall harmony and cooperation among ourselves, and likewise extend this to include our respect and honoring of the Earth and the Cosmos, then the Universe shall respond kind for kind, offering us the benefits of abundance in exchange.

The triadic concept of how we look at ourselves and our world has a tremendous potential of being fulfilled. In fact, it will be the basic foundation of the True Age of Peace we will one day enter together, as all the major prophets have hinted at in their forecasts. The problem is, how will humanity choose to accept it?

As mentioned above, there are only two ways we are going to have to deal with the questions of fear and control, which are the offspring of old diadic thinking. Either we can make the conscious decision, as a whole, to begin exercising triadic perspectives starting today, or we can stubbornly hold onto diadic concepts and allow them to take us to their extreme conclusion—the inevitable destruction of everything we have and hold dear. The more humanity refuses to let go of the issues of fear and control, of divisions and separation, the more the seeds of our own undoing will blossom forth with terrible results. And it may mean that we will need to lose everything before we finally learn the lesson to change the primary cause of it all—ourselves, and how we view the world and each other.

[Copyright 2009. Joseph Robert Jochmans. All Rights Reserved.]