Please note: The astrology used in this and all papers on this site is sidereal or, in the case of harmonics, derived from the sidereal. It makes a difference in sign. For instance, up to about 25° of sun or moon in Aries in traditional Western astrology will go into Pisces in this astrology. Psychic is very much about lights in Pisces. If you do not know the difference between sidereal astrology and traditional, Western, tropical astrology, I suggest you read the paper The Tropical and Sidereal Zodiacs: A Discussion posted on the Home Page.
Introduction
Recently I watched a public television special about Nostradamus, a French astrologer born over 500 years ago. He wrote a book of prophecies extending into an indefinite future which I have not read. At some point in my life—I do not remember how long ago—I did try to read it. It was indigestible. For me his “prophecies” are so vague, so open to interpretation they are worse than useless. Why waste my precious time?
Some people, however, are very impressed by Nostradamus’ prophecies. To them, he foresaw many future disasters.
I am in no position, one way or the other, to verify Nostradamus’ prophecies. I can, however, shed some light on him. When some one has a reputation for prediction, those of us who do not judge for or against right away entertain certain questions about him. Was he just a very clever fellow—a charlatan, or was he sincere? If he was sincere (which does not necessarily make him right), how did he arrive at his predictions? Was it through his astrology? Or did he have psychic abilities?
As an astrologer with an astrological method which sorts data into more meaningful piles, I am interested in which pile—charlatan, astrologer, psychic—Nostradamus’ chart falls. According to the television special, Nostradamus’ predictions resulted from a self-induced trance state. That suggests psychic or mediumistic abilities.
Here I demonstrate Nostradamus’ profoundly psychic chart. That is, his chart looks like the chart of other psychics, only more so. After showing that he is psychic, I illustrate the meaning of “more so.” After all, most psychics do not publish books of prophecy about international disasters which are still extant hundreds of years later. How come Nostradamus did?
This paper is an addendum to an earlier one, posted on this site, on psychic abilities. In that paper I explain why neptune and Pisces influencing the 3rd house in the 7th chart sponsor psychic abilities. To truly comprehend this paper, it should be read first.
Go to the paper on PsychicsBelow, however, I repeat the basic information on the signature, or path, of psychic abilities.
The Signature for Psychic Abilities
Psychic abilities, found in the 7th chart, are listed below in their order of greater to lesser prevalence in charts examined so far:
The above specifications are for individuals who have psychic ability independent of their having a reputation for it. In order to be known as psychic, to be a practicing psychic, one of the Angles or part of the 10th house must also be influenced by neptune. Neptune on an Angle “identifies” the individual to the world as “neptunian.” Psychics are a subgroup of neptunian individuals.
It follows from the above that some--perhaps many--individuals have varying degrees of psychic ability but are not practicing psychics. It is not true, however, that every one is psychic. Ultimately we may all have the potential for developing psychic abilities, but it is the neptune/Pisces/3rd house individuals around the world who are our psychics.
Strong benefic support (venus and/or jupiter on or influencing Angles) and emotional maturity enable the psychic to use his talents wisely. In benefic charts neptunian traits become “creative, talented, psychic, receptive.”
Neptunian individuals lacking strong benefic support, especially those with charts heavily afflicted by mars and saturn, are not known as psychic. They are known as bizarre, unfortunate, air-headed, unrealistic, living in a fantasy world, or psychotic. Their lives are so raw they cannot properly process psychic information. Because of this, some individuals with psychic abilities make considerable effort to turn them off.
Method
Before I show Nostradamus’ chart, I want to make clear that this astrological method is not the traditional Western one. It is not traditional, period. True, it uses sidereal astrology, the predominant astrology of the East. It also uses the Egyptian harmonic. Both are quite old. But this method started with me. Its working rules were not inherited. They were uncovered gradually through my years of research. At first, these charts and their empirically-derived rules seem complex. However, with aspects limited and meanings of planets and signs consistent, they become much easier. Go here to acquaint yourself with those rules:
Chart Rules
In the drawing below, I show part of Nostradamus’ 7th chart. Birth planets are inside the circle. They are blue and their harmonics are green. Conception planets are outside the circle. They are red and their harmonics are black. The numbered loops represent birth (blue) or conception (red) houses. Midheaven and Ascendant (MC and Asc respectively) for birth and conception are in the circular drawing. Their remaining house cusps are shown below it.
In the writing below, b stands for birth, while c stands for conception.
First we want to look at Nostradamus as psychic. After that I address the difference between him and the “typical” psychic.
C sun in Pisces influences c 3rd house because it is in the same set with c venus, ruler of c 3rd house, giving his Pisces sun that all-important neptune/3rd house influence which identifies the stronger psychic abilities.
But Nostradamus has other Pisces/neptune/3rd influences.. B7 neptune, in b 3rd house, is lighted by c sun, giving him a second Pisces/neptune/3rd influence. He has a third Pisces/neptune/3rd influence: c7 neptune (conjunct jupiter) is also in b 3rd house and lighted by c moon as well as b sun and B MC.
With all that Pisces/neptune/3rd house influence, his remaining three lights in Pisces—b moon, b7 sun and c7 sun—can only add to his psychic sensitivities. As well, he has c mercury in Pisces.
Birth and conception North Nodes are in Pisces, suggesting Piscean pursuits are an important and proper course (NN) for him. They, however, are not conjunct lights. The suggestion for all NN in Pisces is the individual gains spiritually (NN) through the pursuit, experience, or better understanding of qualities represented by that sign. Pisces is naturally associated with the 12th house, suffering, and hidden matters.
His c7 NN in Gemini is in a 4° conjunction with neptune in b 3rd house, suggesting his psychic abilities (neptune/3rd) are cosmically favored (NN). Actually, this set, along with his lighted jupiter/neptune, is simultaneously in 3rd/10th houses—his psychic abilities (3rd/neptune/Pisces) will be favored (NN and jupiter) in his career (10th).
Jupiter/neptune is often also forefront (Nostradamus’ b jupiter rules B MC) in charts of astrologers. The jupiter/neptune astrologer uses astrological charts as places to focus in order to receive psychic insight. The chart of an individual receiving a psychic or astrological reading will also show forefront lighted jupiter/neptune at the time of the reading. That is the chart’s way of demonstrating that the public perceives the astrologer as a type of psychic.
B neptune, lighted by B Asc in Aries, is in b 10th house, repeating that his career will be neptunian—in this case, psychic.
Above I have shown that Nostradamus is intensely favored for psychic abilities and that those abilities will be used in his career.
That is all well and good. But, an individual can be intensely psychic and not known for it. In order to be known as psychic he needs a neptune/10th influence, which I have already shown he has. In order to be successful he also needs forefront benefic influence. Nostradamus has that, too :
So far we can see that Nostradamus is very psychic and quite favored for success as a psychic. With his two Pisces NNs, we have a hint his visions were often about immense suffering. Are there additional reasons so many of his prophecies were about future disasters?
The following set is also shown in the drawing above (only the Pisces part is shown here):
| c7 NN | 9 Pisces 26 | |
| c venus | 11 Pisces 38 | ruler of C MC and c 3rd house |
| c7 pluto | 13 Pisces 29 | |
| c sun | 14 Pisces | ruler of c 12th house |
Because of its influence over his c 3rd house and his C MC, we know this set reflects Nostradamus’ career (10th) as an astrologer/psychic, with the emphasis on the psychic. North Node assures his good reputation. Lighted pluto in Pisces suggests in his psychic journeys he will plumb the depths (pluto). All the Pisces planets fall in his b 12th house, with c sun ruling his c 12th house. His Pisces positions, therefore, suggest an in-depth (pluto in Pisces)/psychic (light in Pisces/3rd)/suffering (NN in Pisces)/12th (hidden)/12th (hidden) influence. A certain amount of suffering naturally occurs through Pisces lights. Nostradamus’ “Pisces” suggests more than ordinary psychic abilities, it suggests psychic suffering. He was often very shaken by his visions. (See footnote 1, below)
We have not finished finding things in Nostradamus’ chart which suggest his propensity to perceive future disasters. The drawing above also show that c 3rd house contains a conjunction of moon and pluto in Scorpio. So one of his 3rd houses contains a light/pluto conjunction in Pisces: the other, a light/pluto conjunction in Scorpio.
Scorpio, in its natural correlation with the 8th house, is the sign most concerned with transformations. In the 8th house the two (hopefully completed) individuals who married in the 7th are confronted with the joys and conflicts associated with the deeper meaning of marriage—“you shall become as one flesh.” What was “mine” also becomes “ours.” Sex and death are also highlighted by the sign Scorpio. Sex as it is implied in the 8th house is not just the sex of pleasure (which is a 5th house matter), but becomes “our sex”—a possession, of sorts, as well as “our transformation, our union through marital sex.” Death puts us through a deep transformation, the shedding of our physical bodies.
Planets in the 3rd house and planets ruling it, as well as the conditions of mercury, say a lot about the area of our mental interests. One interpretation of moon conjunct pluto in Scorpio, then, is Nostradamus has a very focused (pluto) interest in death and other radical transformations.
Therefore,
Moon/pluto in Pisces = very focused (pluto) psychic abilities (moon in Pisces) and connection to suffering (moon in Pisces).
Moon/pluto in Scorpio = very focused (pluto) interest in death (moon in Scorpio)
and with that we have an astrological explanation for Nostradamus’ psychic type. Psychic observations are already outside time. Psychic observations based on pluto could be profoundly (pluto) far from the time period they originated in.
More can be found on the sign Scorpio as well as the 8th house in other papers on this site. The one about Polly Klaas is one of them.
Conclusion
While I personally cannot decipher the prophecies of Nostradamus, his astrological chart clearly falls in line with those of other psychics. Nostradamus’ chart is drenched in the significators for psychic ability. That does not prove he was correct, nor that others interpretation of his prophecies are correct. He was, however, sincere. He was not a charlatan.
Footnotes
(1) Of the psychics I wrote about, two had lights in Pisces conjunct pluto in their 7th charts. Peter Hurkos, who had psychometric talents, had b7 moon at 1 Pisces 20 conjunct c7 pluto at 6 Pisces 38 in his 11th/3rd house with moon ruling b 3rd house. I do not know anything else about him. The second, J.Z. Knight has b7 pluto at 21 Pisces 43 conjunct b7 mercury at 26 Pisces 03 conjunct c moon at 26 Pisces 05 in b 4th/c 3rd house. Some years ago I heard that she was making dire predictions about the future to her group of followers. Knight also has b sun in Pisces.
The conjunction of light to pluto in Pisces for both of these individuals have orbs over 4°. Neither includes a NN in Pisces.
In his 7th chart, Friedrich Nietzsche had a conjunction of b7 moon at 28 Pisces 13 to c pluto at 28 Pisces 23. Moon ruled b 9th and co-ruled b 8th (23 of 33°). Its placement in his birth 4th house suggests deep suffering, even intellectual bankruptcy at the end of his life.
We have some descriptions of Nietzsche that describe his moon/pluto in Pisces:
There is more on Nietzsche’s chart in the paper on this site about the astrological differences for the insanity of Virginia Woolf, Vaslav Nijinksy, Vincent Van Gogh, and Nietzsche.
Sir Richard Burton, like Nostradamus, had a conjunction of sun and pluto in Pisces as well as North Node. His b sun at 6 Pisces 44 was conjunct c NN at 6 Pisces 13 and b pluto at 6 Pisces 00. Burton’s b sun ruled his b 11th and co-ruled (28 of 33°) his b 10th house. They are in his birth 5th house/ c 1st houses. The 5th refers to sexual relations. Burton reportedly “sampled every available woman and brothel east of Suez.” and his translations of Eastern erotica and blunt approach to sexual descriptions shocked Victorian England to the core.” (from data source, below)
Burton had a highly benefic 7th chart, allowing him to plumb those particular depths without becoming cross-eyed debauched.
Finally, we have something from the 1st chart of an autistic child. Little is known about Corky. An early autistic child, born before autism became a national disease, he was severely dysfunctional and committed to an institution. He had c sun, ruler of C Asc (which was in b 6th house) at 14 Pisces 59 conjunct b1 pluto at 17 Pisces 09 in 12th/7th houses. The 1st chart describes some of our physical ailments as well as our identity as it is formed in early childhood. It is the identity we would uncover in serious therapy. This set suggests physical (6th), relational (7th) suffering (Pisces) for hidden (12th) reasons.
More can be found on Corky and autism in the paper on autism posted on this site.
Bibliography
Lou Salomé--Nietzsche, edited, translated and with an introduction by Siegfreid Mandel. Redding Ridge, CT:Black Swan Books, 1988.