Nostradamus - Prophecies of Nostradamus

Prefaceby M. Nostradamus to His Prophecies
Greetingsand happiness to Cesar Nostradamus my son. Your late arrival, CesarNostredame, my son, has made me spend much time in constant nightlyreflection so that I could communicate with you by letter and leaveyou this reminder, after my death, for the benefit of all men, ofwhich the divine spirit has vouchsafed me to know by means ofastronomy. And since it was the Almighty's will that you were notborn here in this region and I do not want to talk of years to comebut of the months during which you will struggle to grasp andunderstand the work I shall be compelled to leave you after mydeath:assuming that it will not be possible for me to leave you suchwriting as may be destroyed through the injustice of the age. Thekeyto the hidden prediction which you will inherit will be lockedinsidemy heart.
Alsobear in mind that the events here described have not yet come topass, and that all is ruled and governed by the power of AlmightyGod, inspiring us not by bacchic frenzy nor by enchantments but byastronomical assurances: predictions have been made through theinspiration of divine will alone and the spirit of prophecy inparticular.
Onnumerous occasions and over a long period of time I have predictedspecific events far in advance, attributing all to the workings ofdivine power and inspiration, together with other fortunate orunfortunate happenings, foreseen in their full unexpectedness,whichhave already come to pass in various regions of the earth. Yet Ihavewished to remain silent and abandon my work because of theinjusticenot only of the present time but also for most of the future. Iwillnot commit to writing.
Sincegovernments, sects and countries will undergo such sweepingchanges,diametrically opposed to what now obtains, that were I to relateevents to come, those in power now - monarchs, leaders of sects andreligions - would find these so different from their own imaginingsthat they would be led to condemn what later centuries will learnhowto see and understand. Bear in mind also Our Saviour's words: "Donot give anything holy to the dogs, nor throw pearls in front ofswine lest they trample them with their feet and turn on you andtearyou apart." For this reason I withdrew my pen from the paper,because I wished to amplify my statement touching the Vulgar Adventby means of ambiguous and enigmatic comments about future causes,even those closest to us and those I have perceived, so that somehuman change which may come to pass shall not unduly scandalizedelicate sensibilities. The whole work is thus written in anebulousrather than plainly prophetic form. So much so that, "You havehidden these things from the wise and the circumspect, that is fromthe mighty and the rulers, and you have purified those things forthesmall and the poor," and through Almighty God's will, revealedunto those prophets with the power to perceive what is distant andthereby to foretell things to come. For nothing can be accomplishedwithout this faculty, whose power and goodness work so strongly inthose to whom it is given that, while they contemplate withinthemselves, these powers are subject to other influences arisingfromthe force of good. This warmth and strength of prophecy invests uswith its influence as the sun's rays affect both animate andinanimate entities.
Wehuman beings cannot through our natural consciousness andintelligence know anything of God the Creator's hidden secrets, Forit is not for us to know the times or the instants, etc.
Somuch so that persons of future times may be seen in present ones,because God Almighty has wished to reveal them by means of images,together with various secrets of the future vouchsafed to orthodoxastrology, as was the case in the past, so that a measure of powerand divination passed through them, the flame of the spiritinspiringthem to pronounce upon inspiration both human and divine. God maybring into being divine works, which are absolute; there is anotherlevel, that of angelic works; and a third way, that of theevildoers.
Butmy son, I address you here a little too obscurely. As regards theoccult prophecies one is vouchsafed through the subtle spirit offire, which the understanding sometimes stirs through contemplationof the distant stars as if in vigil, likewise by means ofpronouncements, one finds oneself surprised at producing writingswithout fear of being stricken for such impudent loquacity. Thereason is that all this proceeds from the divine power of AlmightyGod from whom all bounty proceeds.
Andso once again, my son, if I have eschewed the word prophet, I donotwish to attribute to myself such lofty title at the present time,forwhoever is called a prophet now was once called a seer; since aprophet, my son, is properly speaking one who sees distant thingsthrough a natural knowledge of all creatures. And it can happenthatthe prophet bringing about the perfect light of prophecy may makemanifest things both human and divine, because this cannot be doneotherwise, given that the effects of predicting the future extendfaroff into time.
God'smysteries are incomprehensible and the power to influence events isbound up with the great expanse of natural knowledge, having itsnearest most immediate origin in free will and describing futureevents which cannot be understood simply through being revealed.Neither can they be grasped through men's interpretations northroughanother mode of cognizance or occult power under the firmament,neither in the present nor in the total eternity to come Butbringingabout such an indivisible eternity through Herculean efforts,thingsare revealed by the planetary movements.
Iam not saying, my son - mark me well, here - that knowledge of suchthings cannot be implanted in your deficient mind, or that eventsinthe distant future may not be within the understanding of anyreasoning being. Nevertheless, if these things current or distantarebrought to the awareness of this reasoning and intelligent beingtheywill be neither too obscure nor too clearly revealed.
Perfectknowledge of such things cannot be acquired without divineinspiration, given that all prophetic inspiration derives itsinitialorigin from God Almighty, then from chance and nature. Since allthese portents are produced impartially, prophecy comes to passpartly as predicted. For understanding created by the intellectcannot be acquired by means of the occult, only by the aid of thezodiac, bringing forth that small flame by whose light part of thefuture may be discerned.
Also,my son, I beseech you not to exercise your mind upon such reveriesand vanities as drain the body and incur the soul's perdition, andwhich trouble our feeble frames. Above all avoid the vanity of thatmost execrable magic formerly reproved by the Holy Scriptures -onlyexcepting the use of official astrology.
Forby the latter, with the help of inspiration and divine revelation,and continual calculations, I have set down my prophecies inwriting.Fearing lest this occult philosophy be condemned, I did notthereforewish to make known its dire import; also fearful that several bookswhich had lain hidden for long centuries might be discovered, andofwhat might become of them, after reading them I presented them toVulcan. And while he devoured them, the flame licking the air gaveout such an unexpected light, clearer than that of an ordinaryflameand resembling fire from some flashing cataclysm, and suddenlyillumined the house as if it were caught in a furnace. Which is whyIreduced them to ashes then, so that none might be tempted to useoccult labours in searching for the perfect transmutation, whetherlunar or solar, of incorruptible metals.