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Who is Nostradamus? And why are people so fascinated by him? Well to start, Nostradamus was a French man living around the sixteenth century (1501-1600). He was born in December 1503, and was originally Jewish but converted to Catholicism. Under the wing of his grandfather, Nostradamus studied old languages which at the age of 14, led him to study in Avignon where he often went against the teachings of the Catholic Priests because the rejected the idea that the sun was the center of the Earth since it contradicted with the idea of a heaven. In 1525, he graduated from the University of Montpellier where he studied astrology and medicine which would soon help him gain fame from the public. After graduation, he traveled to several towns and villages where the Bubonic Plague ravaged the lives of thousands living in that time when infection was not understood and where it was unknown that one could get sick from unsanitary conditions. The Bubonic plague was a deadly bacterial disease that killed half of its victims and gave them black cankers all over their body. Nostradamus would go to these villages and towns and give the sick patients new bedding and new low fat diets that would help the towns recover. He would also give a herbal remedy made from rose hips which were high in vitamin C which would help the patient. Because of his treatments and because of recovery rates, Nostradamus began to become famed in his work which however, only lasted shortly. After becoming famed, he married and had two children but his wife and two children became ill of the Bubonic plague and died shortly after. This made many upset because the healer they famed could not even save his own family from the disease he claimed to cure. Because of this he lost much of his popularity and many began to break off from him. He ending up fleeing because he was got into trouble with the law for making a remark against the Catholic religion. During this time he went throughout Europe helping stop the spread of the Bubonic Plague and once again become renown for his healing abilities. It is thought that during this time of fleeing, Nostradamus became aware of his “powers” and started making predictions that he would predict to come the following year, often doing this while under the influence of drugs that would put him in a hypnotic state where his visions were most clear. After remarrying, he started to write a lot of 4 line stanzas often called quatrains. After realizing that the public really like reading these, he decided to put all of his predictions in a book that would span all the way to the year 7074 where he predicts the end of man kind. He decided to put all of his workings into one book called Centuries where he wrote prophesies and put them into 10 different centuries. Each century contained 100 quatrains but did not have a date to them so anyone could make these specific to any topic which is a huge factor in why there is doubt in his prophesies. All over Europe he was famed for his predictions, because it was believed he had a gift, or maybe a curse. He was liked by many and even invited to many royal events where he would share his prophecies with royal families. Several coming true, one more important one was about the death of King Henry II. Nostradamus told him that he should stay away from jousting for that year because a terrible accident would happen to the king, but without thinking about it he participated in it and his prediction came true, the king was killed in the exact same way that Nostradamus described, a joust through the head. With this many became intrigued by his predictions because they were coming true and they did not know whether to think of him as a man of god or a demon sent by Satan. Nostradamus died at the age of 63 from gout, a condition where there is too much uric acid (a waste product of the body), is in the blood stream which can cause joint pain and arthritis and if kept untreated, may even cause death. Nostradamus still lives on today through our believes that his predictions hold some truth and that he has predicted many events such as the rise of Hitler, or 9/11 or even predicting the end of man kind later on. But one important question is why do people believe that his predictions exist. What are his major prophecies of the events that many of us know about. Well to start off, a event that every American knows all to well, the 9/11 terrorist acts. It is said that Nostradamus had made predictions that were closely related to this:

Earthshaking, a fire from the center of the earth Will shake the towers of the New City Two great rocks will fight a long war Until Arethusan springs bloody the rive afresh

This is thought to be talking about the Twin Towers that were crashed into and destroyed by two planes controlled by terrorist. To start, it is important to break this down into a literal meaning instead of just a poem. The first stanza could be related to the fire that was set by the fuel from the Boeing's. The next stanza is the most relevant. This is the line that directly connects the quatrain to the twin towers. It says the towers of the New City as in the Twin Towers of New York City. The 3rd line is showing that two immovable forces are fighting a war and are very stubborn. This could be talking about the war between Israel and Afghanistan or the U.S. and Iraq where either side is showing no chance of stopping. The last line is the most confusing because not many know who Arethusan is. There Is a myth about her springs of Ellis, which many directly relate to Ellis Island. In this quatrain it is easy to see why many had made the connection but although it is closely related, it was also very vague and it could possibly be relating to any event throughout the course of time.

Here is the big question, do you believe in these prophecies? Well many people do and many begin to wonder why? Why is it that some believe that some guy who lived prepared 500 years ago could make predictions about the future? Well to answer this question it is best to get a insight from people who do believe in these kinds of things. However in order to stay away from a bias answer it is important that the question was changed from Nostradamus to a question about psychics, because after all they do predict the future. From asking several people I found out one main thing, that people want to what they will be like in the future financially and emotionally. Common questions people would ask were if they would be happy or how they would be living and what they would be doing. This is because people want to be in a better situation then they are currently in and are often bored with their current lives, hoping that something better will come along. In the case of Nostradamus, people believe that his predictions are right because they want something more out of life, something they can look forward to and be ready for it.